&>. 











,y NEW- YORK. 



Clinton Hall. ^ 
T834. 



COMPANION 



FOR THE SEASONS OF 



MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 

WITH AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING 

HINTS FOR THE NURSERY. 
BY REV. THOMAS SEARLE. 

WITH AN* 

ORIGINAL PREFACE. 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED 

HINTS ON EARLY EDUCATION. 
BY A LADY. 



NEW YORK. 

MOORE & PAYNE, CLINTON HALL. 

1834. 




Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by 
MOORE & PAYNE, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 
the State of New York. 



/<ff3 






PREFACE 



IMPROVED EDITION. 

It was the desire of the publishers of this volume to pro- 
mote the welfare of families ; and it has occurred to them 
(and this opinion has been confirmed by the friends whom 
they have consulted,) that its usefulness would be promoted 
by extending- the work so as to embrace a more full view 
of some topics here stated, and the insertion of a few 
others omitted by the author. This course will afford 
helps for the guidance of those who are charged with the 
responsible work of training up a family of children. 

The additions made in the present edition are selected 
from a work entitled, " Hints for the Improvement of 
Early Education, and Nursery Discipline," originally 
written by an English lady, a corrected edition of which 
was a few years since edited by a lady in Salem, 
Massachusetts. 

It is hoped that this improved edition of a work which 
has been already well received by the public, will prove 
increasingly acceptable. 

New York, 1834. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface 



Page 
. 3 



CHAPTER I. 



Mail's first Transgression in Pa- 
radise 

Woman formed 

Successful Temptation 

The Sentence .... 

Effects of Sin not confined to 
the Original Transgressors . 

CHAPTER II. 

Consequence of the Fall in re- 
ference to Mothers generally . 

Anxieties previous to the hour 
of Trial 

The Affliction itself . 

Subsequent Sorrow . 

These Afflictions traced to their 
proper Source .... 

Prayer for one looking forward 
to the Trial ; 

Hymn , 

CHAPTER III. 

Encouragements, Mercy mixed 

with Judgment 
The Consequence of Sin might 

have been more distressing 
The Entrance of the Female 

into the Marriage State a 

luntary act 
Woman occupying an elevated 

Position in Socie y 
Paternal Relationship of God 

to Believing Parents 
The Promises of the Gospel 
The Sympathy and Compassion 

of Christ .... 
Remembrance of Past Deliver 

ance .... 

The Purposes of God accom 

plished by the Possession of 

Children .... 
The Distinguished Honor of be 

ing Parents 
Offspring a Blessing . 



Page 
The Afflictions of mothers over- 
ruled for Spiritual Good . S2 
Hymns 88 



CHAPTER IV. 



Gratitude to God for mercy ex- 
perienced in the Hour of 
Trial 

Private Dedication . 

Public Acknowledgment . 

Caution against Formality 

Caution against Superstition . 

Grateful Remembrance perpetu- 
ated 

Social Acknowledgments • 

Presentation of the Child 

Parents encouraged to bring 
their Children to Christ 

Thankfulness for the Permis 
sion to present Children to 
God 

Persevering Prayer . 

Prayer answered for Children . 

Anecdote of a young Female . 

Hezekiah and Manasseh . 

Anecdote of Monica ■ 

Remarkable Instance of an An- 
swer to a Mother's Prayer . 

The same of a Father's Prayer 125 

Effects of Prayer upon Children 130 

Children to be Prayed with . 131 

Anecdote of the late Mrs. Berry ib. 

Mental and Moral culture of 
Children . . . . .133 

The Means blessed . . .137 

Neglect of Parents . . . 138 

Encouragements to instruct 



91 

93 
94 
101 
102 

104 
ib. 
107 

. 112 



115 
116 
117 
120 
121 
122 

123 



Children ....-.; 

Children brought into the Sanc- 
tuary 

Hannibal j 

Importance of Example . 

Anecdote illustrating the effects 
of Example ..." 

The Regulation of Parental Af- 
fection towards Children 

Prayers and Thanksgivings 

Hymns 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER V. 



Page 



165 



ib. 



Address to Irreligious Mothers . 

Tiie Importance of Piety on 
their own Account 

On Account of their Offspring . 

Affecting Anecdote . 

Address to the Childless . 

Reasons to reconcile the Mind 
to the Deprivation . 

Supporting Considerations for 
Widows and Widowed Mo- 
thers 

Address to Bereaved Parents . 17S 

Hymn 187 

Address to Fathers and Hus- 
bands ... : 195 

APPENDIX. 

The Importance of Health in 
Children . . . . .201 

The Nursery the Mother's Ele- 
ment 203 



Page 
Mothers should nurse their own 

Children . . . .204 

Qualifications of Nurses . . 206 
The Effects of Good Nursing 

upon the Mind and Body . 208 
Cleanliness .... 211 

Clothing . ... 212 

Food 222 

Air and Exercise . . . 227 
General Principles of Educa- 
tion 234 

Truth and Sincerity . . .236 
Authority and Obedience . . 241 
Rewards and Punishments, 

Praise and Blame . . . 246 
Temper . . . : .243 

Justice 253 

Harmony, Generosity, &c. . 255 
Fearfulness and Fortitude . 261 
Industry, Perseverance, and At- 
tention 265 

Delicacy . . . • .267 
Manners and Order . . . 27(X 
Religious Instruction . . 275 
Religious Habits . . . 284. 



PREFACE 

TO THE 

AMERICAN EDITION. 



" Every bullet" said William III. of England, when speaking 
of the universal superintendance of Providence, — " Every bul- 
let has its billet." Its victim is marked and foreknown. It goes 
on its appointed and distinct errand. It were to be wished, that 
it were in like manner true of every volume, that it had its ex- 
press and personal message, and that it were adapted to its own 
specific class of readers. Much of the moral suasion of the day- 
is lost because of its vague and aimless character. It has no 
billet. This evil is, however, apparently on the decline. Among 
the happier omens of the age in which we live may be numbered 
the increasing disposition which Christian writers have dis- 
played, to adapt their labours to the different forms of society, 
and to the varied stations and pursuits of mankind. There 
seems a growing inclination to exchange loose and undiscrimi- 
nating generalizations for addresses more pointed and distinct, 
which shall isolate the hearer, and give to the words of the 
teacher the urgency and directness of personal intercourse. 
There is more of effort to reach the several classes of society, 
each in its chosen occupation and home. The mass of the 
public mind is no longer assailed with a blind and wasted 
strength, as one large, impassive and unmanageable whole j but 
it is divided into portions, according to the lines of separation 
which are drawn by the differences in age, character and em- 
ployment. Thus sundered, the mass becomes accessible. The 
aim of writers seems to have become more andmore allied in its 
spirit to the favourite but simple manoeuvre which won for Napo- 
leon his most splendid victories ; — we mean, that of pouring the 
whole power and fierceness of his onset, in one direct and con- 
tinued stream, upon a single point. This wavered,— when it 



4 PREFACE. 

yielded, the line of defence was broken, and the field was won. 
The religious author in our own times must act upon a like prin- 
ciple. He must not look upon himself as encountering the whole 
front and face of the public mind ; but he must select and sever 
his auditory. And now urging upon the young the dangers of 
his unguarded and heedless youth, and now upon the mer- 
chant the want of sobriety, and forethought, and wariness, in his 
spiritual exercises ; bringing before each age and sex its dis- 
tinct duties and perils; he must, to the utmost of his power, 
identify and individualize his^readers, allowing them no oppor- 
tunity for evasion, in the feeling that the argument or the ap- 
peal is indefinite and vague. The parable or the exhortation 
must terminate as did the apologue of Nathan, with shutting up 
the hearer to the exclusive ownership and appropriation of its 
healing or searching truths — " Thou art the man." This was 
a favourite practice with the men, to whom England, and not 
England only, but America and the world, owe so much, — we 
speak of the Puritans. They wrote for classes of men. Every 
member of society had " his portion,' 1 of counsel and instruction, 
and received it in its " due season." In reviewing their writers 
it seems wondrous, with what ingenuity they contrived to ad- 
dress evengelical truth to nearly every state and form of the 
community. The artizan, the merchant, the husbandman and 
the navigator, the magistrate on the bench, and the criminal in 
his dungeon, the master and the servant, the parent and the 
child, were all admonished in treatises written for their exclu- 
sive benefit, and with a peculiar adaptation of language and 
imagery to their distinctive character. And although many of 
these writings have now become obsolete, the " Husbandry 
Spiritualized" of the ingenious and devout Flavel, and the 
" Navigation Spiritualized" by the same author are not yet for- 
gotten or useless. 

Our own is an age which requires these specific appeals to 
the conscience, the intellect, and the heart. In this simple 
manual which is here presented to the American reader, a dis- 
tinct class is thus addressed. It is one needing religious conso- 
lation. Of the exercise of sympathy towards the friend and the 



PREFACE. © 

companion of man in the hour of nature's anguish, we have an 
example at the same time the most touching and the most au- 
thoritative, in that Saviour, who, as he ascended the hill of 
Calvary amid the taunts and mockery of the multitude, and fol- 
lowed by the bearer of his cross, turned to commiserate, as with 
a deeper sympathy, those from among the daughters of Jerusa- 
lem, who, in the coming desolation and overthrow of their 
country should find their sufferings deepened and doubled by 
the pangs and anxieties of maternity.* 

The consolations of the gospel, in all their exuberant rich- 
ness, are here brought before the heart of woman, in the season 
of her greatest trial, and in that season too when she be- 
comes invested with the most endearing of the relations which 
she sustains to society; at the time when, to the affections which 
cluster around her as the wife, are to be added the charities, 
the influence, and the responsibilities that cling to the hallowed 
title of the mother. The period is one favourable to the salutary 
influences of the truth, for it is one of retirement. There are 
hours when the tones of solemn gladness that come from the 
sacred page might seek in vain to win from her a hearing, for 
their gentle and persuasive sweetness would be drowned in 
the harsh din of this world's amusements and companionships. 
Treading the giddy round of dissipation, immersed in the thou- 
sand cares which this world's frivolous associations suggest, she 
might easily evade, or she would quickly lose each solemn re- 
flection. But the time for which this volume was provided is 
one of comparative loneliness. The noisy friendships or rival- 
ries that crowded her pathway and engrossed for themselves her 
whole soul, are partially withdrawn. She is thus left more to 
the society of her own thoughts. And happy is she that in such 
an hour seeks and finds the rich delights of that faith, which 
gladdened the wife of Zacharias and the mother of the Baptist, 
when in similar circumstances, she congratulated the mother of 
our Lord with the salutation "Blessed is she that believed." 

It is withal a season of serious reflection. The unknown and 

* Luke xxiii. 29. xxi. 23 
1* 



PREFACE. 






uncertain future, however carefully it be banished from the re- 
collection, will often intrude upon the thoughts, to fling over the 
mind a dim and saddening gloom. Fears will mingle them- 
selves with the liveliest hopes. The heart is not then found in 
that state of glittering gaiety and volatile recklessness from 
which all serious thought glances aside, like the spent arrow 
from the polished shield. The mind is sobered. To the soul 
thus prepared the admonitions and soothing encouragements of 
the gospel find a readier admission. The " vain thoughts" which 
" lodged within" are for the season excluded or hushed, and the 
gentle voice of the Saviour is heard, like the tones of a harp 
when the wind has fallen. 

The period is one also of peril. The blissful anticipations 
which promise new enjoyments to life and new bonds to wedded 
affection, may all give place to the stern realities of the grave. 
The event, which it was hoped would have crowned the affec- 
tionate husband with the joys of a father, may in truth leave 
him a bereaved and lonely mourner. Standing perhaps on the 
verge of eternity, shall the wife be left unprepared for the 
change'* If a believer in that Redeemer, whom, 

a soft and naked child, 

His mother undeflled 

In the rude manger laid to rest, 

From off her virgin breast, * 

shall she not be invited to cast herself in confiding feebleness 
upon Him, who, when he was Divine to befriend, became hu- 
man that he might sympathize 1 Shall she not be nerved and 
sustained by that spiritual peace, which faith alone can minister, 
and which so often adds an unwonted energy and new powers 
of endurance to the material frame 1 And if unhappily igno- 
rant of that name, is not this the fitting season to warn her, that 
she stand not on the borders of eternity and continue to reject 
the grace of Him, whom, on her entering its shades, she shall 
find enthroned as its Ruler and Judge, the Dispenser of its 
changeless retributions '] And may not even the most heedless 

* Milman. 



PREFACE. 7 

votaries of fashion, in the remembrance of the trial and its possi- 
ble issue, see the folly of their past course, and no longer 

(too busy, or too gay, to wait 

On the sad theme, their everlasting state,) 
Sport for a day, and perish in a night, 
The foam upon the waters not so light V 

There is yet another cause for offering to the American reader 
*he present volume. Its intention is to advance the growth of 
Domestic Piety. It may serve to multiply in number, and to 
elevate in character those Christian homes which are the best 
sources of a nation's strength, the well-heads of its purity and 
its happiness. There only must be formed those habits, and 
there are to be trained the minds, that must uphold the freedom 
of our country, and bear onward the triumphs of the Church. 
The press may groan beneath the weight of its labours for the 
national intellect, and the pulpit may thunder forth its honest 
and fearless appeals to the national conscience, the school- 
master may thoroughly educate, and the legislator carefully 
govern ; but all these will want their most faithful ally, if there 
be not found throughout our land the Christian parent, teaching 
by hourly precept and ceaseless example. The family religion 
of Scotland and New England has been in truth the secret of 
their giant growth in arts, power and intellect. And were every 
region of our country studded with the sanctuaries of God, and 
were the pulpits of all her neighbourhoods filled by an energetic 
and a devout ministry, little would have been gained for the 
cause of piety, if all this had been obtained only on the condition 
that each family altar should be demolished. Christian parents 
are not yet aware of the dignity which is attached to their sta- 
tion, where the head of the family becomes, like Burns' cotter, 
the priest of his household, 

And kneeling down, to Heaven's Eternal King 
The saint, the father, and ihe husband prays. 

It is for pious mothers yet to learn how much they may effect, 
in modest retirement, by their assiduous prayers and their de- 

* Cowper. 



8 PREFACE. 

vout and tender watchfulness. We need statesmen and legis- 
lators, we need pastors and schoolmasters, and like Elliot, the 
Apostle of New England, we do well often to pray " Lord send 
us good schools," — but we feel, in our measure a yet greater 
destitution ; it is that, which Madame Campan assured Bona- 
parte, made up the wants of France, — " we need mothers." 
"When the Church shall have again her Eunice and her Lois, 
she will again rejoice in her Timothys. The influence of a 
pious mother is untold and boundless. It spreads from genera- 
tion to generation — it stretches into eternity. The extent and 
duration of this influence shall never be estimated aright, until 
we read it in the developments of that world. 

" The child," said "Wordsworth, " is father of the man." In 
his character we trace the germs and outlines of that which 
maturer years only unfold and perfect. The atmosphere of his 
early home still clings about man to his declining years. If that 
atmosphere has been one of religious light and splendour, it 
has left in his eyes a lingering glory, which makes the objects of 
sensuality to wear in his view their native dulness and dimness 
of hue, He cannot sin without restraint and without remorse. 
The tastes of home cannot be lost at once, and if they have been 
those of cautious delicacy and purity, if the parent's hand lifted 
often and prayerfully to the infant's lip the chalice of heavenly 
truth, it has communicated a quickness of perception and left 
behind a relish of delight, which will often make all worldly 
joy seem insipid or bitter. Man may wander from his home 
and his country, and become an outcast from the comforts, and 
an outlaw to the privileges of society, but far away into his 
loneliest solitude, and down into his deepest degradation, he 
will be followed by the habits and recollections of his childhood. 
And if with all these recollections there be mingled the image 
of a mother tender and devout, those recollections may, when 
it is least expected, awake and work within him the mightiest 
changes ; the seed of her instructions may vegetate, and the 
dew of her prayers descend long after the hand which scattered 
the one has mouldered, and the lips which uttered the other 
have been closed in the grave. The testimony of a late dis- 



PREFACE. y 

tinguished orator and statesman* of our own country must be 
yet recent and familiar to our readers. And while the histories 
of Baxter and Henry, Halyburton, Wesley and Doddridge, ex- 
hibit the early harvest often following the pious culture of a 
Christian parent ; on the other hand, even when the seed seems 
to have lighted on a thankless and barren soil, we are taught 
not to despond by the story of Augustine, and of Gardiner, of 
Newton and Cecil. 

The responsibilities of the Christian parent furnish a theme 
on which the pious mother will delight to receive every admo- 
nition, and for the discharge of which she will welcome every 
aid from whatever source it be offered. The birth of a child is 
to a family a more important event than any of those accessions 
or diminutions of worldly estate, which are so generally re- 
garded as forming an era in the family annals. The entrance 
of a trembling and helpless stranger upon an existence never to 
terminate, — the uncertainty which hides his future character 
and destiny,— the trials and the snares of this brief life, and the 
vast and momentous interests of that life to which this is but a 
portal, — all may well awaken the deepest sensibilities of a 
parent. It is the addition to the world of intellectual beings of 
one more chord, which by its dissonance shall mar, or that by 
its harmony shall swell the diapason of the universe. And at 
such a time the father or mother devoted to God, who receives 
from him so precious and difficult a trust should assuredly hail 
with gratitude every endeavour to aid, to guide and to stimu- 
late ; every preparation should be made with that devout inquie- 
tude and importunity, which, as we may imagine, possessed the 
heart of Jochebed, while framing the ark in which her son was 
to be committed to the waters, " when every osier was twined 
with a prayer." To have given birth to one, who shall serve 
God in this lower world, and enjoy the beatific vision above, or 
who shall resist his grace and defy his power in this life, and 
pass to endure his wrath throughout that which is to come ; 
who, like Samuel, may hear the voice of Heaven in his infancy, 
or, like Manasseh, may trample on the teachings and worship 



10 PREFACE. 

of his fathers, opens before the mind so long a vista, and so 
wide a. field ; the possible extremities of the course now com- 
menced are so widely remote and so opposite in their character ; 
such intense glory dazzles the eye on the one side, and such 
darkness mantles and chills the scene on the other ; that deep 
and trembling solemnity become but the natural and just feeling. 
The Christian parent at such a time sees no extravagance in 
the impassioned language of President Davies on a similar 
occasion.* 

With these views the American publishers have prepared an 
edition of this unpretending manual. Its chief claims are its sim- 
plicity and piety. They have attempted to adapt the work for more 
extended usefulness, by some retrenchments and verbal altera- 
tions, not affecting its character, but which it was thought might 
render the book more valuable for the use of all denominations 
of evangelical Christians. 

Trusting that it may subserve in its sphere the cause of do- 
mestic piety, and be made instrumental by the accompanying 
power of the Divine Spirit, in imparting to the Christian, 
strength, hope, and counsel, and in directing the thoughtless to 
the Giver of Life and its Almighty Protector, the volume is left 
to establish any claims jt may possess to the public favour and 
patronage. 

New York, November, 1833. 

* Thou embryo angel, or thou infant fiend, 
A being now begun, but ne'er to end, 
What boding fears a parent's heart torment, 
Trembling and anxious for the grand event, 
Lest the young soul, so late by Heaven bestow'd 
Forget her Father, and forget her God ! 
Lest while impnson'd in this house of clay, 
To tyrant lusts she fall a helpless prey, 
And, down descending still from bad to worse, 
Her immortality should prove her curse ! 
Maker of souls ! avert so dire a doom, 
Or snatch her back to native nothing's gloom ! 
From " Lines by President Davies on the birth of John Rogers Davies. 
his third son." 






A COMPANION 



SEASON OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. \ 



CHAPTER I. 

The Entrance of Sin — Change in Paradise — Eve formtd-— 
Tempted — Ruined — Sentenced — Grief at beholding the Effects 
of Disobedience — Abel slain — Hymn. 

Nothing can be more painfully interesting to 
the contemplative mind than to trace the dismal 
and desolating effects which have followed man's 
first disobedience. The moral, intellectual, and 
physical condition of man after the fall presents a 
lamentable picture, upon which the pious mind 
dwells with very peculiar sensations. It exhibits a 
fearful illustration, and affords demonstrative proof 
of that affecting assertion of scripture, " It is an evit 
and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord.' 7 
If the mind be more forcibly impressed with the 
beauty or deformity of any object, the truth or error 
of any subject, by striking contrasts ; if the bright 
and lovely tints of the rainbow appear conspicuous 
and beautiful, in proportion to the darkness of the 
cloud in which it is set ; if the lively colours of the 
landscape render to the sight the dark objects in 
the back ground apparently darker, so the state of 



12 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

man before and after the fall, presented to the view 
in connexion, will unquestionably produce a 
stronger effect than when separately beheld. The 
paradisaical glory viewed beside the present condi- 
tion of the world, will make the former appear 
more glorious, the latter more awful, and we must 
exclaim, " How is the gold become dim, and the 
fine gold changed !" O what a sad transition from 
purity to pollution ! What an exchange of happi- 
ness for wretchedness ! A blooming Eden is trans- 
formed into a dismal Bochim ! What might have 
been the state of man, and the situation of his off- 
spring, if sin had never entered into the world, and 
" death by sin," is a matter of speculation and con- 
jecture rather than of fact, yet no doubt it would 
have been of the highest order of happiness and 
purity. We can better describe it negatively, and 
say what it would not have been. There would 
have been no pain of body or mind ; no writhing 
anguish — no guilty fears — no black despair — no 
monster death. 

Among those who participate very largely in the 
appalling effects of transgression, are those who 
seem least able to sustain bodily pain and mental 
anguish, and who are called, in consequence of the 
delicacy of their frames and tenderness of their feel- 
ings, " weaker vessels." 

God having formed man in his own image, and 
endowed him with a capacity to serve and a dispo- 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 13 

sition to enjoy him, judged that it would much 
detract from his happiness and glory were he a 
solitary partaker of the bliss of Paradise, and there- 
fore to contribute to the felicity of his newly-formed 
creature, he made Woman^ the last and loveliest 
effort of his hand, and presented her to Adam as a 
suitable and interesting companion, with whom he 
might " take sweet counsel ;" that they might toge- 
ther contemplate the beauties of creation ; cultivate 
the varied fruits and flowers which sprang around 
them, and express unitedly the devout and pious 
desires which were wont richly to glow m their 
holy bosoms. But our fondest possessions often 
prove a snare, and that which we are disposed to 
think admirably adapted to promote our happiness, 
may contain within it a worm in embryo, which 
will eventually eat out the vitals of our enjoyment. 
The sweetest flower may nourish and protect the 
very insect which will occasion its fair beauty to 
fade. She who seemed so well adapted to be a 
sweet and profitable companion, very soon proved a 
snare, and disappointed the fond hopes of Adam. 
Her soul was unsuspecting, her heart was suscepti- 
ble of impressions, and in an unguarded hour she 
yielded to the base and ruinous, though plausible, 
insinuations of the arch-fiend, who concealed his 
hellish deformity under the beautiful shape of a 
serpent, whose variegated colours and easy motions 
were calculated rather to delight than disgust. 111- 
2 



14 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

fated hour ! when she broke through the divine 
prohibition so solemnly given, and not only so, but 
induced her husband likewise to become a partaker 
of her sin. From this period we see the commence- 
ment of that wretchedness and sorrow which have 
deluged the world. Now was felt the first tear of 
grief, the first feeling of shame, the first alarm of 
conscience, the first pang of soul, the first shadow 
of darkness, the first frown of Deity. 

Leaving the sad effects of this unhappy act of 
disobedience, as it regards the world in general, we 
shall trace those which affect the female portion of 
it, and especially in reference to that season, which 
is emphatically called " The hour of nature's sor- 
row." And how deeply affecting to turn to the 
original denunciation of the sentence upon the 
woman ; a sentence around which seem to shine 
with fearful brightness the rays of divine equity 
and truth, a sentence which cannot be read without 
feelings of humiliation and sorrow ; a sentence 
which has been inflicted down to the present mo- 
ment, and will continue to be so till " mortality is 
swallowed up of life." As woman first sinned, she 
was first summoned, and first sentenced. In com- 
mon with man she is exposed to disease of body, 
condemnation and guilt of soul, and all the sad 
variety of pain ; but the sentence which God de- 
nounced, and to which reference is particularly 
made in this chapter, is peculiar to the female sex. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 15 

It contained a threatening of additional woes and 
pains, in which the man cannot share except by- 
sympathy. See the woman approaching the divine 
Being ! Her fair and heavenly form already show- 
ing the sad effects of her transgression, her heart 
palpitating with fear, her face which lately exhibited 
angelic features and surpassing beauty, now sullied 
with a flood of tears. Woman, why weepest thou ? 
Why are those smiles, which were wont to play 
upon thy countenance, indicative of the peaceful 
pleasures of thy soul, and a source of enjoyment to 
thy husband, exchanged for the looks of grief and 
disappointment? Why all this fearfulness and 
trembling 1 What has robbed thee of thy peace ? 
What deep sorrows are these which find their 
expression in sobs and tears ? Alas ! she had ample 
cause, for this sin had made her " head as waters," 
and her eyes as " a fountain of tears." There was 
a sad consciousness of having marred in a single 
moment, by yielding to temptation, the beautiful 
efforts of six days' labour of a God — of having en- 
tailed upon her offspring a sad inheritance of pain 
and wo. See her approaching with trembling steps 
near to her offended Maker, anticipating with in- 
conceivably painful sensations the denunciation of 
the sentence, though she was ignorant of the extent 
of punishment to which that sentence might refer. 
She had indeed been told that death was appended 
to the violation of the prohibition, but she knew not 



16 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

what death was but in imagination. She had not 
seen the fearful form, and awful concomitants of the 
dissolution of the body, for death had not yet slain 
a victim, and she could only conjecture respecting 
the death of the soul. God had said, " in the day 
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die !" and her 
guilty soul would doubtless conceive a thousand 
horrors in this sentence of death ; indeed what she 
already felt of fear, guilt, shame, and grief, was a 
partial experience of the sentence. With what feel- 
ings must she have listened to the language which 
the scriptures represent as having been addressed to 
the woman after her transgression, " Unto the wo- 
man," he said, " I will greatly multiply thy sorrow 
and thy conception, in sorrow shalt thou bring 
forth children." How different these accents to 
those of love and approbation, to which she had 
been accustomed to listen with rapturous delight ; 
they must have entered deeply into her already 
agitated heart, and " pierced her through with many 
sorrows." Adam, the partner of her guilt and grief, 
listened likewise with anxiety to the sentence. At 
such a scene as this, could angels have wept, they 
would have dropped their tears. At such a scene, 
even the heart of the offended Sovereign moved, 
and felt the enkindlings of pity, while he passed the 
sentence of justice. At such a scene who does not 
now drop the tear, especially those who are more 
peculiarly and painfully interested in the denuncia- 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 17 

tion, and who can therefore most deeply sympa- 
thize ! 

The sentence, " In sorrow shalt thou bring forth," 
was experienced by Eve ; but the bodily anguish 
she experienced was not the greatest affliction; 
there were many accompanying circumstances 
which rendered the birth of her firstborn afflictive. 
The child was born in the image of its parents, it 
was "conceived in sin and brought forth in ini- 
quity." The first human being that was made, 
was made in the holy likeness of Deity ; the first 
that was born, was born in the sinful image of a 
fallen and polluted parent. Had the pains, sorrows, 
and depravity of the progenitors of mankind been 
confined to themselves, it would have lessened the 
affliction. But how deeply affecting^ how truly 
lamentable, that the first stream from the fountain 
should have been impure ; that the first branch shot 
from the trunk should have been corrupt and 
unhealthy. Cain, the firstborn, was " the degene- 
rate plant of a strange vine," which was originally 
" a noble vine, wholly a right seed." 

How painful must it have been to the first sinner 
and her guilty partner, to recognise in their offspring 
the fatal effects of their folly and disobedience ; how 
did it remind them of their sad compliance with the 
tempter ; they not only felt the bitter effects of trans- 
gression in their own pangs of conscience, in their 
own sense of shame, in their own darkness of mind, 
2* 



18 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

in the loss of the divine favour, and their expulsion 
from the delightful garden, where they and their 
children might have been happy and holy ; but they 
saw the dismal effects in their families : the first in- 
fant's sob and cry ; the first discoveiy of perverse- 
ness and passion ; the first sight of pain and anguish 
of body : must have had a voice speaking fearfully 
and powerfully to their hearts, and inflicting a pang 
more dreadful than the plunging of a dagger into 
their wretched bosoms. We feel more regret at the 
sufferings we occasion others, than those we feel 
ourselves. If our misconduct as parents had in any 
way injured our child ; if we had procured the little 
creature dreadful suffering and death, how bitterly 
should we reflect upon ourselves ; but our first pa- 
rents had not merely by their guilt occasioned pains, 
diseases, and bodily death to their posterity, but im- 
parted to them such a sinful nature, as tends to 
everlasting misery. " Oh !" methinks they would 
say, while their hearts heaved with grief, and the 
tears rolled down their cheeks at the sight of a son 
born in their own sinful likeness, and exhibiting the 
effects of the curse ; " Oh, wretched beings that we 
are ! we have not only lost the divine likeness our- 
selves, but we have robbed — we have ruined our 
children. Had it not been for our folly and disobe- 
dience in eating of the forbidden fruit, they would 
have been brought forth as holy, as perfect, as 
happy, as we were created ; but alas, now we are 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 19 

called to witness the cry of distress, and the princi- 
ple of depravity. God made us saints, but we have 
made ourselves and our children sinners ; how dread- 
ful is the sight of the image of darkness and guilt in 
them. We feel in ourselves, we see it in our off- 
spring, nor can we remedy the evil. We cannot 
reverse the sentence, we cannot restore the lost 
image of God, for tears, though profuse and peni- 
tent, cannot wash out the stains we have imparted ; 
our exertions, however active and sincere, cannot 
eradicate the principles we have implanted. We 
have made them sinful, we cannot make them 
holy." In this respect, did not our mother Eve find 
that in sorrow she brought forth children, and would 
she not especially think so, when the murdered 
corpse of Abel caught her eye, slain by the hands of 
her firstborn ? How appalling to see the eldest child 
stained with an affectionate and unoffending bro- 
ther's blood ; humiliating and heart-rending scene ! 
The sentence was being fulfilled, "I will greatly 
multiply thy sorrow." Such is the effect of the fall, 
as illustrated in the circumstances of the first trans- 
gressor. 

HYMN. 

EFFECTS OF THE FALL. 

Ah ! there is a painful feeling, 
Which all female parents know ; 
Sorrow o'er the bosom stealing, 
Causing frequent tears to flow. 



20 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

Fill'd with deep and dark foreboding, 
They th' approaching trial view ; 
And they ask, while fears corroding, 
Who will bring us safely through 1 

O'er that hour there seem impending, 
Dark'ning clouds which terrify ; 
Anxious thoughts the soul attending, 
And the tear is in the eye. 

What maternal pain and sorrow, 
Does the expected infant give ; 
Though it may not see the morrow- 
May not e'en a moment live. 

Monster, sin ! from thee proceedeth, 
All the pain that women know ; 
But for thee, the heart that bleedeth, 
Ne'er had throbbed with sorrow so. 

Woman was the first transgressor, 
She the prohibition broke ; 
Therefore did the Lord address her ; 
This the language which he spoke; 

Fallen woman ! thou in sadness, 
Shalt thine offspring bring to birth ; 
Pains and griefs, instead of gladness, 
Mournfulness instead of mirth. 

Let your troubled mind be stilled, 
You who feel the trial now ; 
'Tis but God's decrees fulfilled 
To his just appointment, bow. 

Cease, O cease, then, thy misgiving, 
Think of what the promise saithj 
That to which thou birth art giving, 
Shall not prove the mother's death. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 21 



CHAPTER II. 

General Effect of Sin on Mothers, in Reference to Nature's sor- 
row — Precursory Trials — The Crisis — Subsequent Afflictions 
— Weakness of Body — Anxiety for the Child— Concern for its 
Health — Life and Future Situation in Time and Eternity — 
Maternal Sorrows traced to their Source — Prayer — Hymns. 

The sin of the first mother of mankind is visited 
upon her female offspring. If they are called to 
sustain the relation of parent, they cannot be stran- 
gers to the meaning of the original sentence. In 
the present chapter, we shall revert to the painful 
scenes through which the female sex are required to 
pass before they partake of maternal joys and sor- 
rows. I am aware that the mind of a female, in the 
prospect of nature's trial, is feelingly alive to every 
circumstance calculated to depress, and I shall state 
nothing but what is more or less common to all the 
sex ; and this I shall do as briefly as possible, and 
with a design to prepare the mind for those rich 
consolations which I shall afterwards present to 
them. In the pains and sorrows of this period, the 
body and mind are both participators. There is a 
bitterness which the heart of a mother alone can 
know, but which she cannot fully express ; a class 
of feelings and impressions so peculiar, that will 
admit only of a partial and imperfect development. 

These trials may be divided into three classes ; 
those which precede, those which attend, and those 
which follow. We shall begin with those which 



22 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

precede. In some cases how much weakness, pain, 
and debility are experienced ; but in these previous 
sorrows the mind is principally the sufferer, and 
this arises from anticipation. It is seldom found 
that the mind takes the most encouraging view of 
approaching afflictions and dangers. They are 
generally magnified in size, and multiplied in num- 
ber. With regard to persons who are expecting 
this trial, there is frequently a depression of spirits 
attending their situation, arising in many instances 
from a physical cause ; this is aided by a natural 
and constitutional fearfulness and timidity, when 
contemplating approaching evils. A feeling of de- 
spondency will sometimes mix itself with the pros- 
pect of so important a crisis ; and even in those 
who profess a reliance upon the divine power 
and promises ; who take enlightened and consol- 
ing views of the character, perfections, and pro- 
vidence of the Almighty ; who have had to record, 
in seasons of affliction and danger, the merciful 
and seasonable interpositions of their Heavenly Fa- 
ther ; even these persons seem to discover much of 
the weakness of faith, and exhibit too much of the 
prevalence of fear. And there are but few, if any, 
who can look forward to the trying period without 
some misgivings of heart, some fearful apprehen- 
sions ; and though they may possess much natural 
fortitude and cheerfulness of animal spirits, yet even 
in these there are doubtless moments of inward de- 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 23 

pression and mental gloom, as if some dark cloud 
were passing across the mind. The heaving sigh 
which they endeavour to conceal, but which they 
can but half suppress ; the involuntary tear starting 
and trembling in the eye, and which is hastily 
wiped away, lest by its glistening it might attract 
observation, and seem to betray something which 
might be construed into weakness • these are un- 
equivocal symptoms of a mind somewhat anxious 
and perturbed. The interpretation of this matter is 
easy " to him that understandeth." And indeed an 
entire indifference upon a subject which is allowed 
to be one of the greatest importance in domestic 
life, would argue a state of mind not at all com- 
patible with the circumstances in which the indi- 
vidual is placed, nor could it be at all congenial 
with the female character. There maybe a false 
fortitude, as well as a false fear ; the former, unfemi- 
nine hardihood: the latter, unbecoming pusilla- 
nimity. There is an observable and desirable 
medium between " despising the chastening of the 
Lord," which is sinful, and " fainting when we are 
rebuked of him." There is a description of fear, 
which is perfectly reconcilable with divine faith. 

God has wisely, and mercifully drawn a veil over 
futurity, and with regard to his providential dispen- 
sations, we know not what bright or what dark 
scenes may arise. How much of satisfaction or dis- 
tress we have to experience is concealed from us ; 



24 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

but we are the creatures of anticipation) we are con- 
stantly calculating upon the arrival of some circum- 
stance or other, which we suppose will have a ten- 
dency either to elevate or depress the mind, and it is 
well known that persons generally experience as 
much sorrow or satisfaction (and in some cases more) 
in expectation as in reality. If an afflictive event 
be anticipated, such is the proneness of the human 
mind to look at the darkest side, that it is sure to 
picture to itself every thing that is dreadful ; it will 
array an approaching trial with a thousand imagina- 
ry horrors and aggravations, not one of which it may 
possess when it arrives. Anticipation has a refer- 
ence to things which may be, and to events which 
must be. Some things are possible, some are proba- 
ble, some are certain ; and such is the state of the 
soul at times, in reference to afflictions which are 
future, that if the trial be possible, it will soon be 
considered likely, if there be the slightest ground of 
probability, a fearful mind will construe it into a 
moral certainty, and begin to fix upon the time of 
its arrival, the circumstances of its infliction, and 
how it may possibly be borne ; yet notwithstand- 
ing this gloomy anticipation, this bitter conclusion, 
this painful feeling, it may not be in the divine con- 
templation to send the trial at all, or if to send it, 
not with half those distressing circumstances which 
the trembling soul expects. But the trial especially 
referred to, is one of certainty. It cannot be evaded, 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 25 

no arrangement can be made to prevent it ; and this 
trial is not only one of certainty, but the subjects of 
this visitation are aware of the time when the af- 
fliction will arrive. Now these circumstances con- 
tribute not a little to increase the previous anxiety 
of the female mind. Were they as ignorant of this 
trial, as to its certainty and time, as they are of the 
ordinary afflictions of life, it might occasion less fear- 
ful anticipation. But their anxious eye beholds it 
rapidly approaching, and the nearer it comes, the 
more they fear. The cloud at a distance, may be 
viewed with less fearmlness than when it approxi- 
mates to us, increasing in size and deepening in 
shade. And is it surprising that persons placed in 
such situations should sometimes fear? Fear is 
natural to the human mind in reference to futurity. 
When looking forward to sufferings, one says, " I 
shall one day perish by the hand of Saul ;" others 
say, " we shall surely die ;" a third exclaims, " what 
shall I do at the swellings of Jordan." Some are 
subject to painful bondage of spirit all their life- 
time " through the fear of death." Need we won- 
der then that those who are naturally timid should 
feel the palpitations of fear, when anticipating na- 
ture's trying hour. But let not the heart be de- 
pressed at what has been, or may be stated, there is 
far more ground for support and encouragement 
than depression and fearfulness, as will appear 
when the brighter part of the subject shall be con- 
3 






26 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

sidered. Many of our fears are groundless, and 
ought to be checked ; the spirits may be unnecessa- 
rily depressed. There is much indeed in this sub- 
ject to humble, but to the pious female, whose hope 
is in the Lord her God, there is nothing to over- 
whelm, nothing to alarm, nothing to terrify. But 
to proceed — 

Besides these precursory anxieties which have 
been hinted at, God has decreed that the actual trial 
itself should be attended with painful circumstances. 
So ran the terms of the sentence, " in sorrow shalt 
thou bring forth children." This part of the origi- 
nal sentence is experienced by all mothers. The 
bodily pains and mental anxiety combined and ex- 
perienced at this period, have been fitly denominated, 
"labour and travail;" and the inspired writers fre- 
quently borrow a figure from this circumstance, 
when they wish to describe in a forcible manner the 
miseries of those who rebel against God, or any par- 
ticular agony or struggle of soul. Jeremiah says, 
" What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee, 
shall not sorrow take thee as a woman in travail ?" 
Isaiah says, "Lord, in trouble have they visited 
thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening 
was upon them, like as a woman with child that 
draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and 
crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in thy sight, 
O Lord." The apostle alluding to the anxiety of 
mind which he felt, and how he agonized for the 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 27 

Galatians, said "My little children, of whom I tra- 
vail in birth again till Christ be formed within you," 
And it is prophesied of the blessed Jesus, that the 
pain, labour, and suffering of his soul should be 
amply compensated by the result, like a woman who 
thinks but little of her pangs when she beholds her 
child. " For he shall see of the travail of his soul, 
and shall be satisfied." These expressions show 
that the trial has ever been considered as a pecu- 
liar one. 

What may be the operation of the mind at this 
time it is impossible to relate. When the individual 
can realize the presence of the Saviour, an interest 
in the love and support of him who knoweth our 
frame of body and mind, and kindly calls himself 
our Father, there will be a peace of soul, though 
connected with anxiety of mind ; but these instances 
of peace, and undisturbed tranquillity, arising from 
a conscious interest in the favour of the Lord, are 
alas ! too few, for the want of previously walking 
closely with God ; this and this alone can produce 
a calm and heavenly frame. If the soul, previously 
to the trial, were to be much in communion with 
God, if it were well stored with divine promises, it 
would have a happy tendency at the moment to 
support and cheer the individual, and would spread 
a delightful serenity over the feelings, and such a 
calm state of mind, such a resignation of spirit, such 
an unshaken confidence in the Lord are desirable, 



28 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

not merely in a moral point of view, but also as it 
regards the situation of the outward frame ; for 
where the mind is not stayed upon God, and sup- 
ported by hope, there must be a great increase of sor- 
row ; there will be agitation of spirit as well as an- 
guish of body. Although the mind and feelings of 
every person will be much interested about the body, 
yet how different the state of mind between one who 
is trusting entirely in the Lord, looking forward 
with composure to the result, and one who has no 
rock to rest upon, no light and comfort from the 
promises. 

But the anxiety and trouble of the female parent 
do not terminate when she first beholds her off- 
spring. " The clouds return after the rain." The 
mother may indeed seem to have escaped from the 
imminent danger in which she was involved ; but 
pain and trouble still exist. Many whose lives 
have been spared, are yet called to pass through va- 
ried trials and perils. The sentence denounced 
against and inflicted upon females, does not merely 
include the trial itself. Some are called to expe- 
rience a protracted debility, their sufferings are 
lengthened after the painful period, and should they, 
through the kind hand of God upon them blessing 
the means, soon convalesce and be fully restored to 
their former health, yet there is not an exemption 
from trouble. Many a sleepless night, many an 
anxious hour does the fond mother pass, while all 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 29 

around are quietly enjoying " kind nature's sweet 
restorer, balmly sleep." So much are her busy 
thoughts engaged, and her maternal feelings inter- 
ested in the recently bestowed gift, that her sleep of- 
ten departs from her, or should she sleep, it is of 
such a nature that the infant's sigh is sometimes 
sufficient to disturb the repose. This frequent in- 
terruption to slumber, this constant anxiety of mind, 
cannot fail to harass and depress the spirits, to vex 
the mind, and injure the health, especially where 
the constitution is at all feeble. 

Besides, leaving the body out of the question, 
children are sure to bring with them a large degree 
of care and trouble, which never would have been 
the case had not " Eve our mother learned to sin." 
The female, when she becomes a mother, is placed 
in a very peculiar situation. Possibly the dear 
infant is a sufferer ; it may be called to pass through 
many painful and dangerous diseases, and some- 
times the little innocent is snatched away from the 
fond and firm embrace of the parent, by the cold 
and cruel hand of death. This is a severe affliction. 
Some indeed, who have any thing but the feelings 
of parents, will speak of this event with lightness 
and indifference, but such individuals are monsters, 
not mothers. To those who have the sensations of 
human affection, the loss of a child under any cir- 
cumstances must prove a source of grief; this is 
one of the sorrows resulting from the possession of 



30 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

children, to see them suffer — to see them die. " A 
voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and bitter 
weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refused 
to be comforted, because they were not." Should 
Ishmael live in the sight of its parents, the mind 
must be subject to painful and unceasing care. The 
affectionate mother's heart often bleeds over the suf- 
ferings of her offspring, her mental sorrow is equal 
to her offspring's bodily pains. Should it enjoy a 
measure of health and vigour, and grow in stature, 
equal to its parents' expectations and desires, yet 
she is sometimes seen fixing her anxious eyes upon 
her sweet babe, pressing it to her kind bosom, her 
countenance exhibiting the strong marks of mater- 
nal solicitude. She sighs, the tear falls, for she is 
pondering many things in her heart. She pictures 
to her busy imagination many a trial it may endure, 
many a danger and temptation through which it 
may have to pass, when it may have no kind mo- 
ther to wipe the tear from its cheek ; she fancies 
she sees some rude storm beating ur3on it, when her 
head may be laid under the u cold turf." She won- 
ders what will be its destiny in this world, and 
where its abode in the next, and lifts her heart to 
Him who hears and answers prayer, that he would 
give it a large interest in his providential care in 
the present state of vicissitude, and by his love and 
grace, prepare it for a seat at his right hand in 
glory. And O ! what a weight of responsibility 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 31 

presses upon the spirits, almost overwhelming' to 
the considerate and conscientious parent ; and 
should it be the first time that she knows what it is 
to be a mother, she is placed in a peculiar and novel 
situation, and enters with much anxiety upon the 
discharge of maternal duties. These are some of 
the pains, dangers, and perplexities to which a mo- 
ther's heart is exposed. There are others, some of 
which it would be impossible, and some which it 
would be improper to enumerate ; sufficient has 
been observed to illustrate the fact^ ,that there are 
many sorrows attending nature's trial which are 
evidently included in the sentence,, "In sorrow 
shalt thou bring forth children." 

The original and procuring cause of this affliction, 
is as painful m the contemplation as the affliction 
itself. 'Tis not a fortuitous event ; the trial does 
not come by chance. All the sorrows that have 
deluged the world may be traced to transgression. 
Follow the stream of grief, which does not diminish 
in its course, but is rather deepened and widened 
by the tears of increasing multitudes, and you will 
see its spring in the mountain of man's iniquity. 
3in and sorrow both began in Paradise ; look back 
to Eden, to that olelightful spot, to the fair but fatal 
tree, there the current originated. The fruitful 
source of the evils and sufferings alluded to, must 
be traced to female disobedience. The hand which 
plucked forbidden fruit introduced these afflictions. 



32 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

A woman's transgression has been the cause of w(v 
man's sorrow, and is there any thing unreasonable 
or inexplicable in this connexion of sin and grief? 
We may see its analogy in common life. Is it 
wrong that sin should issue in suffering? That 
multiplied sins should produce multiplied sorrows ; 
this is reasonable. Shall sin produce happiness, 
and obedience distress ? No. this would be contrary 
to the fitness of things, contrary to the established 
connexion between cause and effect. Painful as 
the circumstances are in which such persons are 
placed, the cause must be equally distressing ; if we 
have one tear to drop over the sufferer, we must 
have one to drop over the sinner ; but alas ! there is 
too much forgetfulness of the original cause of these 
trials. Deep humiliation for disobedience, should 
be joined with sorrow for the punishment. The 
cause should not be forgotten in the consequences. 
Every thing should remind us of transgression. 
Every grief should point us to guilt. Every sorrow 
should proclaim our sin, should speak to the hearty 
and lead to Him who alone can prevent by his 
grace the sorrows experienced in this world, from 
terminating in endless destruction and death. 

How lamentable, how humiliating that the fall 
should have so deeply affected the noblest part of 
the creation, and the loveliest portion of the noblest 
part, Jn some respects, man who was originally 
made only " a little lower than the angels," by sin 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 33 

is made somewhat "lower than the brutes that 
perish ;" but we may rejoice that ultimately, through 
the mercy of God and the mediation of Jesus, he 
shall be raised to occupy a higher position than the 
brightest seraph before the eternal throne, 

PRAYER, 

FOR ONE LOOKING FORWARD TO NATURE'S TRIAL. 

O Lord God, in whom I live, move, and have 
my being, Thou who hast ever appeared for thy 
people in seasons of danger and difficulty, regard 
thy handmaid now prostrate before thy footstool of 
mercy. I acknowledge with deep humility and 
.penitence, my original and actual sin. I would 
patiently submit to those evils which thou didst 
denounce and inflict upon the first transgressor, and 
which have been entailed upon her posterity. But 
in wrath thou hast remembered mercy, and pro- 
mised in her seed a Deliverer from the fatal effects 
of the fall, as it regards the soul. I thank thee for 
the kind and fatherly assurances which thou hast 
made to them that love thee. " Remember O Lord 
thy word to thy servant, on which thou hast caused 
her to hope ;" be with me in my low estate, and 
cheer my heart in the prospect of trial. Manifest 
thy presence to animate, and exert thy power to 
deliver me. Thou hast in time past appeared for 
thy people in their extremities. O let me experience 
thy outstretched and omnipotent arm. " I am thine. 



34 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

save me." May my unworthy life be spared ; and 
when the trial is over, may I, through thy tender 
mercies, be restored in due time to the bosom of my 
family : and by thy good providence allowed to 
enter the sanctuary with the voice of joy and praise, 
to speak good of thy name. Into thy faithful and 
fatherly hands I commit my body, which thou hast 
formed and preserved, and my immortal soul which 
thou hast redeemed by the blood of thy dear Son. 
Now, and at all times, may I be a vessel of mercy, 
consecrated to thy service, and prepared for thy 
glory. 

Pardon, O Lord, I beseech thee, any feeling of 
unbelief arising in my heart, — any impatience, any 
disposition to repine at thy wise dispensations ; and 
grant me a large measure of thy grace and spirit, 
that I may have my will entirely surrendered to 
thine. May I, under every trial, present or in pros- 
pect, call to mind the resignation of him who suf- 
fered, bled, and died, that he might save and sym- 
pathize, and is now touched with the feeling of all 
his people's infirmities, having been tempted in all 
points like to them. Be my deliverer in every sea- 
son of danger — my guide in every difficulty — a 
very present help in every time of trouble; and 
finally, when the sorrows and darkness of this mor- 
tal and changing state shall be past, receive me into 
thine everlasting joy and felicity. 

I entreat thee to bless, support, and counsel my 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 35 

beloved partner in the cares and comforts of this 
world, and fellow-heir of the grace of eternal life. 
Like Abraham, may " he command his household 
after him, and walk before his house with a perfect 
heart" Hear my supplication on behalf of the dear 
infant to which I am in prospect of giving birth ; 
may it be perfect and healthy in body. And above 
all, may its precious soul be a sharer in thy kind 
love, and a subject of thy spiritual kingdom. Re- 
gard all our infant and beloved offspring, (or child) 
preserve them (or it) in health of body, and adopt 
them (or it) into thy family, and as they grow (or it 
grows) in stature, may they (or it) grow in wisdom 
and in favour both with God and man. And may 
we all at last appear in thy presence, and unitedly 
sing the song of praise to God and the Lamb. 

Support and comfort all who are looking forward 
to the hour of trial ; and may they trust in thee, ex- 
perience thy power and mercy. Bring them safely 
through, that they may praise thy name. 

These prayers and praises I humbly present to 
thy throne, through Jesus Christ the Redeemer, who 
is worthy with thyself and Spirit to receive ever- 
lasting honours. Amen. 

HYMNS. 

PRAYER FOR HELP. 

Dear Lord, before thy thronej 

Behold thy handmaid fall; 
Wilt thou not hear the secret groan, 

And listen when I call. 



36 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

Opprest, to thee I fly, 
Thy promis'd help afford ; 

No other refuge is there nigh, 
But thine own self, O Lord. 

All creature help is vain, 

A feeble, broken reed ; 
No strength or comfort from it gain, 

"When most these things I need. 

But in my low estate, 

Do thou remember me; 
One smile my fear shall dissipate, 

And make the darkness flee. 

Stretch out thy powerful arm, 
On that my soul shall rest ; 

Speak, Lord, the sweet shall be the calm, 
Within my anxious breast. 

HIDDEN GRIEFS SUPPRESSED. 

Oft has the tear been seen to stray, 
Down from the mother's anxious eyes ; 
A tear which could it speak would say, 
How deep the grief which gave it rise. 

The sigh with which the bosom heaves, 
Proclaims how many restless fears 
Are felt, though not an e3 T e perceives 
The reason of those sighs and tears. 

But there is One who fully knows, 
The griefs which in the bosom lie, 
Interprets every tear that flows, 
And reads the language of a sigh. 

Think not the Lord from sorrow's plaint 
Will e'er avert the listening ear, 
Think not that He the spirit faint, 
With His rich grace will cease to cheer. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 37 

Rest then the burden of your grief, 
On that kind arm which never fails: 
Trust in that promise of relief, 
Which to the sorrowing saint avails. 



CHAPTER III. 

Encouragement — What might have been Woman's Situation-—* 
The Cup of Grief mixed trith Goodness — God's Dealings not 
severe — Marriage a voluntary Act — Trials to be calculated, 
upon — Females entitled to, and enjoy Attention and Comforts—' 
God's Character as a Father — Promises — Compassion of Christ 
— Past Interpositions — GooVs Designs accomplished — The hap- 
piness and, Honour of being a Pmeni— Benefit of Afflictions — 



In the former chapter a very discouraging scene 
was presented to the view, composed of dark shades* 
The representation was something like Ezekiel's 
roll, "written within and without with weeping, 
lamentation and wo." And to those females who 
are just entering upon the duties and trials of do- 
mestic life, the description might appear dishearten- 
ing ; but we would not wilfully and unnecessarily 
darken the prospect, or increase the already too fear- 
ful anticipation. We would rather suppress than 
excite a tear ; though the former part of the subject 
admitted of nothing pleasing. What can be said 
favourable or encouraging of the consequences of 
sin ? There is nothing in the view of transgression, 
abstractedly considered, at all cheering, but on the 
contrary, every thing lamentable and appalling. All 

4 



38 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

the light which shone around the subject, was that 
of the divine justice and purity, which light only 
rendered the darkness more visible. The feelings 
of mind with which the fall of man, and its sad ef- 
fects upon the better part of the creation are viewed, 
must be of a melancholy description, but such a 
* view of the defection and depravity of our original 
parents, will well prepare the mind for a different 
and more pleasing train of reflection and observa- 
tions. If the view we have taken were the only one 
which could be presented to the mind, it would be 
painful and alarming beyond what the heart of man 
could possibly conceive ; "shadows, clouds, and dark- 
ness" would rest upon the scene unmingled with a 
ray of light. However narrow the investigation, 
nothing could be discovered at all calculated to 
cheer the mind in prospect of trials: nothing to 
ease the throbbing heart j nothing which could alle- 
viate the internal anguish ; tranquillize the agitated 
mind, or prevent the soul from sinking in the most 
awful despondency. But thanks be to God, there is 
a H bright light in the clouds." Though the hand 
of sin has mixed the cup of human happiness with 
the bitter and unpalatable ingredients of pains, 
anxieties, and tears, yet God has taken the cup of 
grief and dashed it with mercy, so that the cup of 
sprrOw becomes the chalice of salvation. Mercy is 

" Th» cordial drop heaven in her cup has thrown, 
To make the bitter draught of life go down." 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 39 

If sin has turned our joy into sorrow, God has 
turned our sorrow into joy. The cloud which 
hangs over the female with regard to this trial of 
life, is like that which attended the Israelitish camp, 
it has two aspects, a bright and a dark one. Sin 
has produced its darkness, God has given it its 
brightness. Frowning justice has written on one 
side, u In sorrow shalt thou bring forth ;" smiling 
mercy has inscribed upon the other, " Nevertheless 
she shall be saved in child-bearing." The former 
creates fear, the latter excites faith and hope. Al- 
though regard to his justice and veracity urges the 
Lord to inflict the righteous sentence, yet how 
sweetly has he blended inimitable loving kindness 
with inviolable truth ! How many consoling con- 
siderations are connected with the subject, which 
this chapter is designed to unfold to the mind, form- 
ing a stay of support, a spring of comfort, which 
will be eagerly embraced by those who believe the 
promises, and possess scriptural views of the charac- 
ter of God ; and while in the former part of the sub- 
ject, we saw strikingly fulfilled the declaration of 
inspired truth, " It is an evil and bitter thing that 
we have departed from the Lord ;" in this part we 
shall see exemplified that scriptural and encouraging 
declaration, " He stays his rough wind in the day of 
his east wind ;" or, as a writer has well observed, 
" God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," How is 
the trial alleviated, though not prevented ! How is 



40 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

the penalty mitigated, though not remitted ! Al- 
though the justice of God obliges him to fulfil what 
he has threatened, yet how has he " set one thing 
over against another." If the pains, sorrows, and 
dangers which are experienced were put in one 
scale, and the mercies, enjoyments and alleviations 
in another, if any suspicion could possibly arise, it 
would be that he had not been sufficiently just, 
rather than not sufficiently kind. In all things to- 
wards his people, he is just as well as kind. Con- 
sider the deserts of the sinner, the claims of justice, 
and the manner in which God deals with his rebel- 
lious sons and daughters, and the finger of silence 
will close the lip of complaint, the balance will be 
found in the favour of man. When all the favour- 
able circumstances which God has been pleased to 
connect with the trial before us are considered, it 
will evidently appear to those who are principally 
interested, that there is more for them than against 
them, and that " mercy rejoiceth against judgment." 
If there is " a crook in every lot," there is also a com- 
fort in every cross. To view justice abstractedly is 
calculated to inspire the mind with dread. To look 
at the sentence without the promise is distressing, 
but see justice going hand in hand with mercy; 
view the denunciation with the assurance of the 
Almighty, and O ! what interesting feelings must be 
excited ; and thus while the equity of the divine 
character is adored, the mercy of the divine nature 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 41 

will be admired. Justice says, the woman shall not 
be saved from the affliction, but mercy that she shall 
be saved in it. Though sin must issue in distress, 
yet " to those who love God, all things shall work 
together for good." 

It may tend to resign the female to this trial, and 
support her under it; to contemplate, what might 
have been the state of woman at this eventful pe- 
riod, if God had " dealt with her after her sin, or 
rewarded her according to her iniquity? Are 
there any that can say, " my punishment is greater 
than I can bear," my sufferings are heavier than I 
deserve? Consider the nature of the prohibition 
that was given to the first progenitors of mankind in 
Paradise ; the awful sanctions with which it was 
enforced ; the just punishment which was threatened 
to the violation of it ; and it will be apparent that 
afflictions, however great, are not greater than might 
have been expected, but considerably less. Would 
the Almighty have been unjust, had he a hundred- 
fold multiplied the sorrows of nature's trial ; had it 
been attended with indescribable and protracted mi- 
sery his equity would not have been impeached. 
God can exercise his justice, independently of his 
mercy, as in the case of the fallen spirits, but he 
cannot display his mercy without his justice, which 
induced him to sacrifice his own Son for sinners, 
that he might be " a just God, and yet a Saviour ; 
just, yet the justifier of the ungodly." Death was 
4* 



42 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

the sentence denounced against the violation of 
God's command, "In the day that thou eatest 
thereof, thou shalt surely die f and if God had exe- 
cuted that threatening in all its fearful extent, he 
must have destroyed both body and soul, and thus 
we should have seen the exercise of justice without 
the extension of mercy ; but in the infliction of the 
punishment upon man, we see the mercy and jus- 
tice of the Lord equally displayed. In the sufferings, 
diseases, and death of the body, God shows himself 
a righteous Being ; in having provided a Mediator, 
who voluntarily undertook to endure in his own sacred 
person, all the worst consequences of disobedience, 
the anger of God, the troubles of the soul, and the 
miseries of the " second death f he has both mani- 
fested and magnified " the riches of his grace." God 
having punished sin in the person of our substitute, 
he can now in perfect accordance with the rights of 
his justice, mitigate our sufferings while passing 
through this world, and remove all sorrows from 
the believer in the world to come. Had it not been 
for this wise and merciful contrivance, it is impossi- 
ble to say to what an awful extent of human wretch- 
edness and moral wo, the creature might have been 
subjected. Let afflicted mothers recollect that their 
heaviest trials are but a small part of what God could 
righteously have permitted to fall upon them ; the 
affliction might have commenced earlier, continued 
a longer period, and at length have terminated in 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 43 

death of the most agonizing kind. Is there not 
therefore mercy in the mitigation? Is there not 
something in the display of this unmerited loving 
kindness calculated to support the mind ? Unques- 
tionably there is, at least to those who know any 
thing of the nature and desert of sin, and of the cha- 
racter and love of God. It is true there . may be 
exceptions ; some may draw different conclusions, 
though they can be neither so correct, scriptural 
nor supporting. Some in the ignorance of their 
hearts may complain and say, that they have done 
nothing to occasion a single sorrow ; that it is un- 
just in God to cause or permit so much affliction ; 
that he ought not to have visited the sin of the mo- 
ther upon the daughter ; that as Eve was the origi- 
nal transgressor, Eve should have been the only 
sufferer. But these persons have yet to learn what 
is the character of God ; what are the legitimate ef- 
fects of Eve's transgression, and what they person- 
ally deserve at the hands of a holy God. " Let her 
that is without sin," first reply against her Maker, 
but if she cannot prove perfect and unsinning obe- 
dience to all the commands of God ; if she cannot 
show that her heart does not exhibit the stain of 
moral pollution, let her patiently bow to the high 
and just decree of heaven. Let her readily submit 
to her mitigated sufferings, and say, "I know O 
Lord that these judgments are right, and that thou 
in faithfulness dost afflict me." Why should a liv- 



44 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

ing man, or an afflicted woman, " complain of the 
punishment of sin?" rather let thankfulness be felt 
within the breast, that instead of pain and trouble 
being greater than desert, or even equal to it, it is 
incalculably less, and that God has not been " strict 
to mark iniquity," — that he has not " entered into 
severe judgment," — with his erring and guilty crea- 
tures, but " in the midst of wrath has remembered 
mercy." 

Again let it be borne in mind, that the entrance 
of the female into the marriage state (withfevj ex- 
ceptions) is a voluntary act ; and while she con- 
siders domestic life as affording a larger portion of 
happiness than any other situation, she cannot be 
ignorant that it is liable to the interruptions that 
have been stated. We find this is the usual line of 
God's dispensations to all mankind. Uninterrupted 
prosperity and enjoyment are not the portion of any 
one who sojourns in this changeful world. There 
is an alloy in every earthly good. It never was 
designed in this perishing state that we should have 
all light without a shade of darkness, all pleasure 
without a sensation of pain, all joy without a drop of 
sorrow ; nor would such a state of experience be at 
all beneficial to the mind, when we consider the pe- 
culiar constitution and situation of the creature. 
Thankful should we be that afflictions do not con- 
stitute the larger portion of our lot in human life. 
Our happiness is not like a sun in a very cloudy 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 45 

day, only occasionally peeping forth through the 
lowering firmament, and that only for a " small mo- 
ment ;" but like a constantly flowing rivulet, now 
and then meeting with obstructions in its course. It 
is well for you who are afflicted to calculate your 
mercies, and place them beside your trials : and it 
will tranquillize your mind, and turn your complain- 
ing into gratitude, and your repining into resigna- 
tion. Remember the many domestic comforts and 
blessings of a personal kind which you enjoy. You 
have many friends who feel interested in your wel- 
fare ; you have those attentions which your situation 
requires, and those conveniences which many 
around you have not. Let these considerations con- 
stitute some alleviation to your trials. Think more 
of the grounds of your thankfulness, than the great- 
ness of your afflictions. Remember the Lord has 
not only dealt kindly, in afflicting you less than sin 
has deserved, but has also promised, and afforded 
you many supports under what you are called to 
suffer. He has not only given you less trouble, but 
also more mercy than you merited, so that you 
can sing 

" He does not always chide, 

And when his strokes are felt, 

His strokes are fewer than our crimes ; 

And lighter than our guilt." 

In this happy and enlightened land woman is 
not that enslaved and degraded creature as in 



46 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

many parts of the ivorld. She is not considered 
destitute of intellect or soul ; as possessing no claim 
upon the affectionate attentions, and kind sympa- 
thies of her husband. Here she is viewed (except by- 
some Turkish lords and masters,) as an equal and 
companion, as the better part of man, and entitled 
to those comforts, and kindnesses which she re- 
ceives. In allusion to the situation which woman 
ought to occupy in the scale of society, a well known 
commentator observes that, " Eve was taken out of 
Adam's side, not out of his head to domineer over 
him; not out of his feet to be trodden upon by him; 
but out of his side to be equal to him, under his 
arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to 
be beloved by him." As then your situation might 
have been more distressing, with regard to bodily 
pains and mental anguish, as you might have been 
deprived of the many comforts which surround you, 
had it not been for the mercy of God, through a 
Saviour, and his providence occasioning " the lines 
to fall unto you in pleasant places, and giving you 
a goodly heritage," surely you have more cause to 
rejoice than to repine at your situation. However 
dark and distressing providence may sometimes ap- 
pear, let the thought that you receive more good at 
the hand of God, than evil, reconcile you to them. 

Another and important consideration, calculated 
to support the female mind in the prospect or endur- 
ance of this trial, is the relation in which God stands 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 47 

to believing parents. There is something 1 pecu- 
liarly solacing in the thought, that all your times are 
in the hands, and at the sovereign disposal of him 
who sustains the endearing name of Father, — a Be- 
ing who can not only pity in distress, but " help in 
every time of need." Peruse that beautiful and im- 
pressive delineation of his paternal character, of his 
unalterable love and care, found in the^L03d Psalm, 
" Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
pitieth them that fear him, for he knoweth our 
frame, he remembereth that we are dust; as for 
man, his days are as grass, as the flower of the field 
so he flourisheth, for the wind passeth over it and it 
is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. 
But. the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to 
everlasting upon them that fear him, and his right- 
eousness unto children's children." If ye parents, 
being evil, know how to feel for, to weep over and 
provide for your children — if you deeply feel for 
them when they are burdened, afflicted, and dis- 
tressed — if you promptly stretch forth the hand to 
help them when exposed to danger, how much more 
will your heavenly father surround and sustain you 
with the everlasting arms of his mercy and his 
power. Considering the endearing connexion in 
which you stand to him, and he to you, every groan 
will enter into his ears, yea, will even pierce his 
heart ; every tear which falls from sorrow's eye he 
will behold ; every pang which tears your heart 



48 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

touches his ; every fear which disturbs and distracts 
your breast, is kindly observed by him whose " eye 
is ever upon the righteous, and whose ear is open to 
their cry," and whose hand is outstretched for their 
relief. And is it not consolatory to reflect that he 
who is so kind and merciful in his nature ; so inimi- 
table and unchangeable in his regards ; so unlimit- 
ed and unremitting in his gracious conduct and 
care, that such a Being knows all your troubles ? O 
it is an unspeakable mercy that it is God, and not 
man; a friend not an enemy, who says, "I will 
multiply thy sorrows." This language of justice is 
the language of one who loves you. The wisdom 
of a father appoints the time, the portion, and the 
circumstances of your trials. And will a fond pa- 
rent chide or chastise his children more than their 
circumstances require ? Neither will the Lord " af- 
flict willingly, nor grieve the children of men for 
naught." He will not lay upon them more than 
they can bear, and at the same time will apportion 
supports to their sufferings. While therefore you 
think of him as a God of equity, who has been ne- 
cessitated to attach the endurance of penalties to 
original transgression ; think of him also as the 
" Father of mercies," and God of all grace, who will 
comfort you. as a mother comforteth her son. There 
is no tremendous terror in his threatenings. From 
an angry and unreconciled being they would appal 
like the thunder in the approaching tempest, but 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 49 

proceeding from him who smiles through his Son, 
and " is pacified toward you/' the accents are like 
those of one who is neither soon, nor much, nor 
long angry with his people. " He does not always 
chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever." The 
rod is grasped by a parental hand, and like the 
mystic and miraculous rod of Aaron, it buds with 
blessings, and is productive of the most extensive 
benefit to whomsoever it is applied. In conse- 
quence of his covenant connexion with you, he must 
be deeply interested in all your sufferings. And if 
this endearing relationship be experienced, all the 
perfections of deity are engaged for the comfort, 
safety, and deliverance of the tried believer. The 
attributes of God combined, form a strong habitation, 
a secure asylum, to which you may continually re- 
sort. In the sorrows, supports, and deliverance of 
afflicted mothers, we see all these attributes display- 
ed. His justice is seen in their pain ; his mercy in 
their alleviations ; and his power in their deliver- 
ance. Happy are those who are thus encircled with 
almighty and paternal arms ! Who, while they feel 
one hand upon them to afflict, feel another under 
them to sustain. With this view of the subject there 
can be no room for the indulgence of fear, but ample 
cause for the exercise of faith. Let the fiercest 
trials come. Suppose you suffer as much, or even 
more than you anticipate, recollect who appoints 
the nature and circumstances of your trials ; a mer- 

5 



50 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

ciful father and not an enraged enemy ; one who 
"doth all things well," who loves you too well to 
destroy you, or to suffer you to sink under the bur- 
dens you are called to bear. 

Again, the 'promises of the Lord afford prominent 
and sufficient grounds of consolation. These are 
emphatically styled in scripture, " exceeding great 
and precious." They adorn the pages of inspiration 
as the stars adorn the firmament at evening ; they 
shine not for themselves, but for the benefit of others. 
Stars are visible only in the night, and consequently 
at such a season only are precious. O how valua- 
ble are they to comfort and enlighten the weary and 
way-worn traveller in the absence of the light of day. 
So the promises of religion are principally valuable 
in seasons of adversity and distress, and let it be re- 
membered that as the darker the night, the brighter 
the planets shine, so the experience of the believer 
testifies that the promises shine most resplendently 
when the providence of God is most dark and try- 
ing. How often in the darksome night of affliction 
have these blessed promises irradiated the mental 
and the midnight gloom ; they have shed a lovely 
light over the fainting spirit. The believer in Jesus 
clearly sees them, cheerfully embraces them, firmly 
rests upon them, and greatly delights in them. On 
them the mind is fixed, and they prove the stay of 
the soul amidst the most dreadful alarms and fear- 
ful tempests. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 51 

Immediately after the fall, the kindest assurances 
were given of a Mediator. In the very same ad- 
dress which was made to the offenders, there was 
comprehended both a curse and a promise, "I will 
greatly multiply thy sorrows,"- but " I will put en- 
mity between thee (the serpent,) and the woman, be- 
tween thy seed and her seed (Christ) ; it shall bruise 
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Here 
was an intimation, that though God would afflict 
the mother of mankind, he would not destroy her j 
that she should have children ; that her seed should 
multiply, and continue throughout many genera- 
tions ; and that through the Redeemer, the works of 
the Devil should be destroyed • while those who be- 
lieved in the Mediator, should be rescued from all 
the bitter results of the fall, and ultimately inhabit 
the abodes of immortality and glory — a better Para- 
dise than that which had been forfeited by transgres- 
sion. Such an intimation to the fallen mother of 
our race could not fail to soothe her heart, amidst 
the distracted feelings which she must have expe- 
rienced, from a consciousness of having merited the 
curse. A dismal storm had arisen in her breast, all 
seemed darkness, despair, and death. There was such 
a sense of guilt, such " a fearful looking for of fiery 
indignation," that she must have expected to be de- 
stroyed ; but the expressions of love, in the imme- 
diate promise of a Saviour, fell upon her astonished 
ear like the most transporting and soul-inspiring 



52 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

melody. It was like a sudden and unexpected 
flood of brightness and splendour rushing athwart 
the most palpable and appalling gloom. The voice 
which uttered the promise was like the sweet accent 
of a God of mercy. It said to the troubled and 
tempestuous soul, " peace, be still, and there was a 
great calm." It was the welcome news of reprieve, 
yea, of rescue from dreaded and deserved death. It 
was a blessing amidst the curse ; and now, while she 
looked forward to the period of nature's trial, she 
could with the eye of faith, see the sweet promise of 
heaven dawning upon it. The promise was a staff 
on which her feeble hand reposed ; a foundation 
on which her hopes rested with safety ; a star to 
irradiate her distresses; a fountain to refresh her 
overwhelmed spirit. Such a delightful assurance 
she never could have expected. O what an asto- 
nishing exhibition of eternal, infinite, and unmerited 
mercy ! God did not aggravate her distress by de- 
laying to pronounce the assurance of deliverance, 
but like a tender parent, fearing she would sink 
too low under the declaration of his displeasure, 
even gave the promise before he uttered the sentence. 
She heard of the seed of the woman bruising the 
serpent's head, before she heard God say. " I will 
multiply thy sorrow ;" thus tenderly relieving her 
mind, and the^ mind of her guilty partner, by the de- 
lightful annunciation of an all-mighty and all-mer- 
ciful Saviour. Indeed she would have been " swal- 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 53 

lowed up with over-much sorrow," if he had de- 
nounced the curse, and deferred proclaiming the 
promise ; for she could have no idea of it, because 
she felt she had no claim for so glorious a declara- 
tion ; and she would soon have abandoned herself 
to all the agonies of the blackest despair. But the 
immediate and reviving intimation that her life 
should be spared ; that she should have an offspring 
" like olive branches round about her table ;" and 
that though she should be reminded of her trans- 
gression by the sorrows threatened, yet she should 
not be left without sufficient comfort and support ; 
that "she should be -saved in child-bearing ;" this 
eased her throbbing heart, and filled her with "joy 
and peace." Thus while her sorrovj should be an 
enduring monument of sin and shame, her deliver- 
ance should be a pillar to perpetuate the remem- 
brance of divine mercy — the truth of divine provi- 
dence — and the energy of divine power — on which 
might be inscribed with the finger of gratitude, in 
indelible characters, " God is love." It is impossi- 
ble to say which feeling was the stronger ; that of 
distress at the sentence, or delight at the promise — 
both were overwhelming. Sighs and songs mingled. 
Tears and smiles alternately, and in rapid succes- 
sion, irradiated or disturbed her countenance. What 
a strange conflict between grief and gratitude ; grief 
in having sinned herself, involved her beloved part- 
ner in her transgression, ruined her posterity, and 

5* 



54 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

" brought death into the world with all its wo."— 
gratitude that God should long before the fall, have 
devised a plan by which she might possess a better 
inheritance than that she had defiled, defaced, and 
alienated. In the announcement of the curse, in 
connexion with the declaration of the promise, we 
are presented with one of the most sublime, enliven- 
ing and pleasing views of the Divine Being. Oh ! 
how has he blended (as we have frequently seen in 
his manifestations to his creatures,) truth and ten- 
derness, justice and mercy, majesty and mildness, 
punishment and pardon. Well may we utter the 
sentiment which doubtless filled the breasts of our 
first parents when they heard the threatening and 
the promise. " Who is a God like unto thee, glori- 
ous in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders f 
but at the same time, " pardoning iniquity, trans- 
gression, and sin, who retaineth not his anger for 
ever, because he delighteth in mercy." And every 
one of the daughters of Eve, who is an inheritrix of 
the curse, (and which of them is not) is, by believing, 
an heiress of this promise. " She shall be saved in 
child-bearing, if she continue in faith and charity, and 
holiness with sobriety." And let not her daughters 
censure and condemn her too hastily, or too severe- 
ly, for entailing calamities, upon them peculiar to 
the sex ; but let them remember that though through 
her, sorrow is experienced, it was through her, also, 
that a blessed Saviour was promised. It was her 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 55 

seed — bone of her bone, and flesh of her flesh — who 
was to redeem the world, even Jesus, who was 
" born of a woman, made under the law," that we 
might become the sons and daughters of the Lord 
Almighty. If they have obtained an interest in the 
Redeemer promised to Eve, they have no cause to 
complain ; they need not regard their pains and sor- 
rows, for notwithstanding all, they have a better 
prospect, a more glorious inheritance, " a better and 
more enduring substance," than they would have 
possessed in Eden, if their mother had never sinned. 
There are many promises in the word of God 
calculated and designed to support the mind under 
severe trials, and which should be called in to the 
aid of those who may be in prospect of this trial 
especially, to which allusion has been made. God 
has not given one solitary promise only, which like 
a single star in the firmament, would be scarcely 
sufficient to afford light enough to irradiate the 
midnight darkness, but we have many. The longer 
and more intensely individuals gaze upon the ex- 
panse at night, the more of these heavenly lumina- 
ries will they discover ; and the more narrowly we 
investigate the page of Revelation, the greater num- 
ber and variety of sweet promises shall we find, 
especially if faith be in exercise, which, like a teles- 
cope, will bring many distant objects into view not 
visible to natural sight, and unfold many beauties 
in those which are. The promises of religion, like 



56 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

so many angels of mercy, attend the pious female 
both in the prospect and endurance of suffering, 
cheering her heart with sweet visitations. In the 
silent midnight hour, when thoughts of sadness are 
wont to fill the soul, and all is " wakeful restless- 
ness," and weary watching; when the excursive 
imagination flits from one dark scene to another 
still darker; when the pensive mind, wrapt in 
mournful musing, keeps her solitary vigils, then 
these sacred visitants arrest the soul and afford 
substantial consolation, so that the individual expe- 
rimentally exclaims, " in the multitude of my anx- 
ious thoughts within me, thy comforts, O Lord, 
delight my soul." And when the hour of trial 
comes, these sweet promises take as it were their 
stand around the bed of languishing : they stretch 
out the hand filled with supports, and whisper the 
most reviving assurances. One of these heaven- 
born visiters says on the behalf of God ; " Call 
upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver 
thee :" another says, " fear not, for I am with thee ; 
be not dismayed, for I am thy God ;" a third, " I 
will never leave thee ; no, never forsake thee." 
Many are these messengers of mercy surrounding 
the afflicted saint, and they have all something of 
encouragement to speak to the distressed soul. 
How does the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to 
bring all things to our remembrance, remind the 
soul of these kind words of Him " who cannot lie." 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 57 

He adapts, discovers, and applies these sacred and 
invaluable promises. He calls forth that faith into 
exercise which perceives their value, believes their 
truth, and receives their comfort. 

Let the following selection of God's promises be 
carefully read ; let them be treasured in the me- 
mory of the afflicted, let them dwell in the affections 
and the heart; "let these words of Christ dwell 
richly in you in all wisdom ;" let them keep 
house with you ; be constant guests in your soul. 
" He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in seven, 
there shall no evil touch thee." " Surely, in the ' 
floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto 
him." " Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt pre- 
serve me from trouble," (or support me in trouble, 
which is as great a mercy,) " thou shalt compass me 
about with songs of deliverance." "Thou shalt 
forget thy misery, and remember it as waters which 
pass away." "His anger endureth but a moment 
— in his favour is life." " Weeping may endure for 
a night, but joy cometh in the morning." " Many 
are the afflictions of the righteous ; but the Lord 
delivereth him out of them all." "Why art thou 
cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted 
within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet 
praise him, who is the health of my countenance 
and my God." " Though ye have lain among the 
pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered 
with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.'* 



5b A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

" They cry unto the Lord in their trouble ; he deli- 
vereth them out of their distresses." " Come, let us 
return unto the Lord, he hath torn, and he will 
heal us ; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." 
"The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed in 
times of trouble." "He hath not despised nor 
abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath 
he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto 
him, he heard." " The Lord is my rock, and my 
fortress, and my deliverer. My God, my strength, 
in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of 
my salvation, and my high tower." " God is our 
refuge and strength, a very present," (and an ever 
present) "help in trouble, therefore, will we not 
fear, though the earth be removed, and though the 
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ; 
though the waves thereof roar, and be troubled; 
though the earth shake with the swellings thereof." 
" Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sus- 
tain thee, he shall never surfer the righteous to be 
removed." " Though I walk in the midst of trou- 
ble, thou wilt revive me." " My flesh and my heart 
faileth, but God is the strength of my heart." " The 
Lord raiseth up all those that be bowed down." " He 
will not lay upon man more than is right, that he 
should enter into judgment with God ; the Lord 
will not cast off for ever." " But though he cause 
grief, yet will he have compassion according to the 
multitude of his mercies." " I am with thee, saith 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 59 

the Lord, to save thee, but I will correct thee in 
measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpu- 
nished." " The Lord is good, a strong hold in the 
day of trouble." " Behold I will bring health and 
cure, and I will cure them, and reveal unto them 
the abundance of truth and peace." " The Lord 
will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing ; 
thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." " He 
will fulfil the desire of them that fear him ; he also 
will hear their cry, and will save them." " And the 
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord 
shall raise him up." " I will bring the third part 
through the fire, and will refine them as silver is 
refined, and try them as gold is tried ; they shall 
call on my name, and I will hear them ; I will say 
it is my people, and they shall say the Lord is my 
God." " Our light affliction which is but a mo- 
ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory." These are some of the 
promises which bear generally upon the trials of 
God's people ; let them be carefully and frequently 
perused. They form a chain of the most precious 
jewels, a celestial amulet ; a sovereign antidote to 
fear ; an infallible specific for melancholy forebod- 
ings and depression of spirits. They compose the 
richest cordial to revive and animate the sinking 
soul. Gather these promises together, ye who dread 
the hour of trial. Let your mind rove over them 
with the sweetest delight. Lay them up in store 



60 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

against the evil day. Only a few of these promises 
have been presented to you as a specimen of the 
rest.. Look into the scriptures, that " garden of the 
Lord," which contain so many fruits sweet unto 
the taste, so many fragrant flowers to refresh and 
delight. There you may collect, with the hand of 
faith, a thousand more as sweet and precious as 
those that have been culled for you. Such is the 
variety and adaptation of the promises, that it 
would be impossible not to find a specific promise 
adapted to every event in life, whether prosperous 
or adverse ; which circumstance shows the wisdom 
and love of God, his foreknowledge of all the trials 
and temptations of his people, and affords demon- 
strative proof of the authenticity of that book, which 
contains the noble and gracious charter of the 
believer's privileges and promises. 

With regard to this trial, there are not only pro- 
mises which bear generally upon it, but there is 
also an express assurance given to pious females, 
on purpose to comfort and sustain the mind when 
looking forward to its endurance. It runs thus, 
" And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being 
deceived, was in the transgression. Notwithstand- 
ing, she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they con- 
tinue in faith and charity, and holiness with so- 
briety." 1 Tim. ii. 14, 15. Now the expression 
" saved " may refer either to the salvation of the 
soul, or to promised support in the pains of child- 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 61 

birth, and her recovery from the trial. I should 
conclude that it intimates primarily and principally 
the salvation of the soul of the believing woman, by 
which we may understand, that though her suffer- 
ings partake of the nature both of punishment and 
affliction, yet this circumstance shall not hinder her 
salvation ; but shall be so mercifully overruled by 
the providence and grace of God, as eventually to 
promote their spiritual interests. And this salutation 
doubtless includes in it all those blessings of the 
divine covenant, which are secured to the believer 
through the mediation and sufferings of Christ : such 
as the presence of the Saviour in the hour of trial, 
the possession and enjoyment of an interest in the 
promises, divine and sufficient support of mind, and 
also an intimation of safety as regards the body. 
It is a promise full in all its parts. It must mean 
something more than being carried safely through 
the trial, (as some have thought,) because this bless- 
ing is experienced as frequently by ungodly, as 
pious females ; and as the promise is addressed ex- 
clusively to those who are believers, it must of 
course include in it more than what is experienced 
by an un regenerate person. There must be a su- 
perior advantage in the possession of an interest in 
the covenant of grace. - There is a difference be- 
tween the punishment and affliction of a believer 
and an unbeliever. In the one case the sting is ex- 
tracted, in the other it remains. Females in general 
6 



62 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

are preserved by God, in the hour of sorrow, as their 
creator and benefactor, in order to carry on his de- 
signs in the world ; but the believing woman, who 
is specially interested in the promises, is preserved 
in child-bearing by the peculiar love and power of 
God, in a way of covenant mercy. A man may 
preserve his slave because he will prove advan- 
tageous to him, but he will preserve his child be- 
cause he is his son, and because he loves him. 
Thus we see that while God grants to pious females 
deliverance of body, he assures them also of the sal- 
vation of their souls, and affords them the most sub- 
stantial comfort of mind, which others, who are not 
thus interested in covenant love, do not — cannot 
experience. Surely, then, when these general and 
particular promises are considered, a pious mother 
will see how little ground there is for fear, both as it 
regards the safety of the body, and the salvation of 
the soul. Oh ! what an immoveable and invalu- 
able rock of confidence. " Here is solid rock." Here 
the soul may rest with the strongest filial affiance, 
without the smallest apprehension. And remember, 
that these promises are not the assurances of a man 
liable to deceive, nor of a God who can possibly lie 
or change, but like the nature and perfections of the 
Lord, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ; 
they " are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus." In him 
they are made ; in him they are confirmed and rati- 
fied. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 63 

But it will be said, that all pious women are not 
safely delivered in this trying hour. There are 
some who die. We grant this is the case. There 
are instances, but these are fewer than many sup- 
pose. Other latent diseases, at such a time of weak- 
ness, may be brought into action, and which only 
wanted some excitement to operate. Neglect, or 
want of skill, may likewise facilitate danger, toge- 
gether with other circumstances which it is unne- 
cessary to mention ; but the mere circumstance itself 
does not occasion death so frequently as is generally 
thought, especially when compared with the number 
of births. The reference which has been made to 
the promises is, of course, not absolute with regard 
to the body, but contains a general intimation, suf- 
ficient to induce Christian females to trust their 
bodies and souls in the hands of their Heavenly 
Father. In by far the greater number of instances, 
God interposes with his mercy and his power, but 
at the same time let it be remembered, that the pro- 
mise of being saved in childbirth, while it includes 
in it a general assurance of deliverance and re- 
covery, as it relates to the body, yet principally 
refers to the comfort and safety of the soul of the 
believer ; and this is of infinitely greater importance 
than the safety of the outward frame, which is liable 
to fall a thousand ways, and by means apparently 
much less dangerous than this. Suppose that the 
Lord should permit the trial to terminate in death, 



64 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

it is undoubtedly a blessing to the believer person- 
ally considered, for to such a one " to die is gain." 
Though her frail and delicate tabernacle may fall 
into decay and immediate ruin ; though this trial 
may dissolve it as the sun melts the wax, yet the 
precious inmate cannot be lost. That is safe in 
the covenant. It is in the arms, yea, the heart of 
Jesus ; it shall be saved in the Lord with an ever- 
lasting salvation, and God's promises will not be 
forfeited. The express promise referred to, so far 
from being destroyed will receive its best and bright- 
est accomplishment. The root and branch may be 
cut off with a single stroke ; but though the parent 
and child be both taken away, yet both are eternally 
saved and happy. This very trial will be the in- 
strumental means of introducing them into a better 
state than this, and the salvation of the believer's 
soul is then — and not till then — completed. Should 
the arms of the expiring mother embrace in death 
the body of her lifeless infant, and both descend to- 
gether to the cold and silent tomb, yet is there a 
pleasing thought connected with this painful one, 
it is, that their ransomed souls, locked in each 
other's fond embrace, wing together their rapid 
flight beyond the dark and perturbed regions of 
mortality and affliction, and take their eternal sta- 
tion before the throne of glory. But there is ground 
to trust in God for the safety of the body as well as 
the soul. Let this promise then be received and 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 65 

relied upon by all pious and anxious mothers, re- 
membering that " he is faithful that hath promised." 
Again ; those who are sustaining the precursory- 
pains and anxieties attendant upon this period, or 
who are enduring the trial itself, may derive con- 
siderable comfort from the sympathy and compas- 
sion of Christ. A reflection upon his tenderness 
and piety ; an experience of his presence and power, 
must have the effect to make the heart, which is 
filled with trepidation, strong and courageous — to 
raise the hands which hang down, and to confirm 
the feeble knees. Remember, ye pious mothers, who 
are " tossed with tempests, and not comforted," that 
" in all your afflictions, he is afflicted, and the an- 
gel of his presence saveth you." The description 
which the prophet has given of the adorable Jesus 
is the most beautiful and touching, while at the 
same time it is applicable to your situation in a 
striking manner. You cannot surely read it with- 
out being of good cheer. In it you have an inimi- 
table display of the tenderness of his heart ; the ex- 
tent of his solicitude ; and the value of his love. 
The inspired passage is this ; " He shall feed his 
flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs 
into his arms, and carry them in his bosom ; and 
gently lead those that are with young." Ye who 
groan, being burdened, how mercifully does Jesus 
hold out his omnipotent arm, and affectionately so- 
licits you to repose upon it : O how delightful ; how 
6* 



66 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

supporting thus to "lean upon the arm of your be- 
loved!" How he condescends to your circum- 
stances. He knows how soon you are depressed in 
spirit ; he knows, blessed Immanuel ! what kindness 
and gentleness are required to be exercised towards 
you ; he does not merely "lead you with the skilful- 
ness of his hand," with that hand which still exhi- 
bits " the print of the nails" which fastened him to 
the accursed tree, that he might be the better able to 
support you and sympathize with you, but he gently 
leads you as well as skilfully leads you. Can there 
be a more impressive view taken of the blessed Sa- 
viour, the Lord of life and glory. See Him who leads 
at his will the countless armies of heaven, and ma- 
nages the affairs of all the inhabitants of the upper 
and lower sphere; who rules the planetary hosts, 
and "calls the stars by name." See him going 
before or beside pious mothers, discovering a greater 
tenderness and care than an earthly shepherd ever 
displayed to the weak or distressed of his flock, or an 
affectionate husband to his afflicted partner; con- 
sulting their feelings, cheering their fainting hearts, 
and every now and then speaking comfortably unto 
them, saying, " fear not, little flock," for I am with 
you, no evil shall come nigh unto you, I am your 
Saviour and Redeemer, the holy one of Israel. 

Who does not admire the humanity and feeling 
of the patriarch Jacob, in reference to his flock and 
family : the circumstance recorded does credit to his 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 67 

tenderness and sympathy, and will feebly illustrate 
the superior tenderness and concern of our gracious 
shepherd. " And he said unto Esau, my Lord 
knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks 
and herds with young are with me, and if men 
should over-drive them one day, all the flock will 
die. Let my Lord, I pray thee, pass over before his 
servant ; and Iivill lead on softly according as the 
cattle that goeth before me, and the children be able 
to endure" Here we see the picture of a kind heart ; 
but O this is nothing to the sympathy and compas- 
sion of the Saviour. See him holding the pastoral 
crook, as well as the prince's sceptre ; the one show- 
ing that he is willing to exercise his power for your 
defence, and the other that he is able to relieve those 
whom he loves ; here you see pity and power won- 
derfully combined for you. Let the delightful 
thought, that " he careth for you," keep your soul 
buoyant amidst fears and griefs. Ah ! there is not 
a single moment, either by night or by day, when 
you do not enjoy his watchful care. And when the 
anticipated trial comes; then is he very near to help 
and to save you. If he sees you weep, (and you 
cannot weep Without his observation,) he says with 
inexpressible tenderness, " Woman, why weepest 
thou ?" " In the world ye must have tribulation, 
but in me ye shall have peace. Be of good cheer, 
I have overcome the world. Let not your heart be 
troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye believe in God, 



68 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

believe also in me." If he hears you groan, he in- 
stantly interprets the language, and promptly comes 
in with his aid. To how many has he appeared in the 
trying hour , and by his soul-inspiring presence ren- 
dered the pains which nature brings comparatively 
light and easy. To possess the sympathy of kind 
relatives and friends is, and ought to be considered, 
a great source of comfort, but to have the presence 
of a " friend that sticketh closer than a brother f 
" who is touched with the feeling of all your infirmi- 
ties ; who has borne all your griefs, and carried all 
your sorrows • who himself likewise took your in- 
firmities, and all your griefs, and sickness," this is 
cheering indeed ! O love divine ! O sympathy all- 
supporting ! He gently leads you, and if you cannot 
go — if you are too fearful and too feeble to advance, 
he will take and carry you in his bosom ; that bosom 
which was tortured and racked with agony, shall 
be the sweet place of your repose. This surely 
must prevent the soul from sinking in the prospect 
or endurance of suffering. With your eye steadily 
fixed upon him, you can exclaim, " Yea, though I 
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I 
will fear no evil, for thou, (kind shepherd,) art 
with me, thy rod and thy star! they comfort me," 
And while he is with you, who died for you, you 
need not fear : recumbent on his sympathetic bosom, 
you may sing a requiem to your fears. What an 
encouragement to tell your sorrows to him, as well 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 69 

as rest your soul upon him. There are some sor- 
rows you can only tell to him. There are griefs so 
private and incommunicable, that your dearest 
friends cannot know them. The closet has often 
been witness, (or rather Jesus in the closet,) to those 
sighs and groans, and tears ; to that faltering and 
broken utterance of inward sorrow, which only 
Jesus could understand ; they would be unintelligi- 
ble to the earthly friend of our bosom. 

But the tried believer is highly privileged in hav- 
ing an interpreter and intercessor above, in the per- 
son of the Saviour ; and an interpreter and inter- 
cessor within, in the person of the spirit. The for- 
mer, " ever liveth to make intercession for us," and 
the latter " helpeth our infirmities, and maketh in- 
tercession in us, with groanings which cannot be 
uttered." Oh ! we may make known our most hid- 
den griefs to the Saviour ; those which you cannot 
develop and communicate to your dearest friend 
on earth ; and remember there are no trials but 
what you may tell to him ; none so insignificant as 
to be beneath his notice ; none so important as to be 
above his ability to hear and relieve ; and what is 
particularly encouraging, there are no trials you 
can enumerate to him, but what he must feel inte- 
rested in ; this fact is learned from the sympathy 
and compassion which he has ever expressed, and 
ever experienced towards his people. Remember 
that Jesus knows experimentally what it is to suffer 



70 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

in body and in soul ; and he has suffered incon- 
ceivably more than you can possibly do. You 
may, in the agony of your sufferings, cry unto him 
who is able to save from death, and may tremble to 
take the medicated cup into your hand. He, being 
in an agony, prayed more fervently, and said, " Fa- 
ther, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." 
" In the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and 
supplications, with strong crying and tears." You 
may say, " now is the hour of my trial come." He 
said, "now is the hour and the power of darkness, 
now is my soul troubled, I am exceeding sorrowful 
even unto death." What are the few and tempo- 
rary pains of your body to " the travail of his soul V 9 
" Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow ?" What is 
your burden, however severe and heavy, compared 
with his, when " the Lord laid upon him the ini- 
quity of us all." And in the garden of "mournful, 
sad Gethsemane," he sweat great drops of blood. 
Behold he shows you his hands and his feet, and 
his side, that you may be reminded of his bitter suf- 
ferings; that you may be convinced of his qualifica- 
tions and willingness to bear you, and to bear with 
you ; and remember that you " indeed suffer justly, 
but he did nothing amiss." You suffer for yourselves, 
he suffered for others ; he endured so much, that 
you might endure so little ; he bore the curse, that 
you might experience the blessing ; he drank the 
cup to the very dregs, that you might only sip it. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 71 

Had not he suffered in body and soul, you could 
have no relief in your sorrows ; no presence of God 
in your pains ; no deliverance in your perils. The 
Saviour passed through all his tragic scenes of grief 
and death, that he might be " a merciful and faith- 
ful High Priest," a sympathizing and supporting 
friend. 

" He in the days of feeble flesh, 
Poured out his cries and tears, 
And in his measure feels afresh, 
What every member bears." 

Being by faith united to him, whatever afflicts 
you, afflicts him. Your sufferings and sorrows not 
only bring you nearer to God, but bring the Saviour 
nearer to you. His tender heart vibrates at every 
touch of grief which you experience. Oh ! then, 
thus to realize your interest in the Saviour and the 
Saviour's interest in you ; to think of what he suf- 
fered for you, and how capable and ready he is to 
sympathize with you, and to afford you all needful 
comfort ; to find him surrounding you as the firm 
and fruitful mountains are round about Jerusalem ; 
to hear him saying, " my grace is sufficient for 
you," surely must support the mind and solace the 
heart amidst the deepest sorrow. 

Again ; past interpositions of Providence in the 
hour of danger should encourage the mind to trust 
in God for future deliverance. " These things" 
says one, " I call to mind, therefore I have hope." 



72 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

You sought the Lord and he heard you, and deli- 
vered you from all ynur fears, and all your dangers. 
" In six troubles he has been with you, and in seven 
he will not forsake you." You cannot think that 
he will ; the very thought is groundless and unkind 
— it is an unworthy suspicion. The argument oi 
the Psalmist was as just as encouraging, " Because 
thou hast been my help, therefore under the shadow 
of thy wings will I rejoice." " Hath God forgotten 
to be gracious : hath he in anger shut up his tender 
mercies, and will he be favourable no more ? And 
I said this is my infirmity, but I will remember the 
years of the right hand of the Almighty ; surely I 
will remember thy wonders of old. O God, my 
soul is cast down within me, therefore will I remem- 
ber thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Her- 
monites, and from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto 
deep at the noise of thy waterspouts ; all thy waves 
and billows are gone over me, yet the Lord will 
command his loving kindness in the day-time, and 
in the night his song shall be with me, and my pray- 
er unto the God of my life." The mount of danger 
has been the place where you have seen surprising 
grace. In the mount of the Lord was it seen. In 
your extremity you have seen what God can do for 
those who love him, and hope in his mercy. Your 
extremity has been God's opportunity. Consider 
therefore past deliverance as an infallible proof of 
what God can do, and an encouraging pledge of 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 73 

what he will do. You cannot surely have forgotten 
how promptly and kindly he stretched forth the 
hand to sustain you amidst your weakness ! how his 
presence cheered you ! how his power delivered 
you ! how his promises comforted you ! how his 
providence watched over you ! And is he not still 
as able, still as willing ! Has so short a lapse of time 
reduced his energy to impotency ; his mercy to in- 
difference. O no, "his arm is not shortened, that it 
cannot save ; his ear is not heavy that it cannot 
hear." His heart is not hardened that it cannot feel : 
his fulness is not diminished that it cannot supply ; 
his eye is not weary nor dim that it cannot watch. 
He who has helped you hitherto will help you all, 
your journey through. Surely, you can say with an 
apostle, kC Who hath delivered us from so great a 
death, and doth deliver, and in whom we trust that 
he will still deliver." And considering that he has 
never failed nor forsaken you, why should you for 
a moment permit unhallowed and unidnd suspicion 
and mistrust, like some foul and frightful demon, to 
haunt your breast, and rob you of your comforts and 
your confidence. Rather say, with the cheerful and 
mingled feelings of gratitude and faith, 

" His love in times past forbids me to think 

He'd leave me at last in trouble to sink ; 

Each sweet Ebenezer I have m review, 

Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through ; 

Perhaps your fears may greatly magnify ap- 
7 



74 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

proaching evils, (for they are seldom found to dimi- 
nish what is anticipated,) you may think that your 
trial may be peculiarly severe, more so than any 
that have preceded; but take care you have not 
to blush for your present fears. Many who have 
experienced the rich mercy of God, have been 
ashamed that they should ever have suffered dark 
mistrust to enter into their minds. Well ! and sup- 
pose, ye fearful mothers, you should experience as 
much as you expect, and more than you have done 
before, can your trial be so great as to exceed the 
delivering care and mercy of God ? Can it be a 
match for omnipotence? Cannot he who sustains 
a world support a worm ? Can your sufferings be 
so much severer than they have been, that no power 
is equal to your support, and no promise equal to 
your comfort. Those who thus conclude, conclude 
falsely ; the ground of their fearful conclusion is, 
" like the baseless fabric of a vision." It makes no 
difference to the Almighty power and wisdom, 
whether it be a small difficulty or a great one ; little 
or imminent danger. A mountain and a molehill 
are removed with equal facility by the hand of 
omnipotence. His power and promise could as easily 
support Job and David " in all their afflictions," as 
those trembling, faint-hearted beings^ who were " in 
fear where no fear was." He can as easily bring 
from the gates of death as from the slightest indis- 
position. Reflect then much upon his past goodness 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 75 

towards you, and let this inspire you with confi- 
dence for the future. 

Perhaps, reader, you have not been brought into 
the circumstances of difficulty and danger ; you 
have the trial only in prospect Well ! consider what 
he has done for others in the trying hour; and in- 
deed he loves you as he loved them, and will help 
you as he helped them, if he is your father and 
friend. He has appeared for them, beyond their ex- 
pectation — greatly beyond their foolish fears — and 
infinitely beyond their deserts. You have the same 
ground to expect deliverance as they had. You, if 
you believe in Christ, have the same fond parent ; 
the same kind shepherd ; the same gracious spirit ; 
the same sweet promises : therefore be no longer 
faithless, but believing ; no longer discouraged, but 
thankful ; no longer despairing, but hoping. Re- 
member that though the trial may be new for you to 
bear, it is not new for him to afford sufficient sup- 
port under it. He knows what you are, and what 
you need, and will assuredly "make all grace 
abound toward you, through Christ Jesus." 

It may further be remarked that this trial, though 
attended with some painful circumstances, is, never- 
theless, accomplishing some of the most important 
objects of the Divine Being. Ye who are mothers, 
conform to the original and divine injunction, " In- 
crease and multiply, and replenish the earth." 
Without one generation succeeding another, many 



76 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

of the noblest designs of providence and a^race would 
be frustrated. The book of God's decrees would 
become a blank. By multiplying your species, you 
are contributing to the fulfilment of prophecies ; to 
the mediatorial glory of the Redeemer ; and the esta- 
blishment of his kingdom in the world. Abraham 
and Sarah, his wife, had a child in their old age, 
and he was emphatically called " the child of pro- 
mise," and he was the child of privilege also ; for in 
him all the families of the earth were to be blessed, 
because from him, in a direct line of generation, was 
to spring the glorious Messiah, the Saviour of the 
world. You know not but that your offspring, either 
in the present or succeeding generation, may be a 
" seed to serve the Lord," promoters of the grand and 
important cause of the gospel, and supporters of his 
church. And surely you will not repine at a few 
pains of body, at some anxiety of mind, *when you 
consider that^you are fulfilling the designs of your 
generation, and complying with the express injunc- 
tion, and avowed wish of the Almighty. That this 
circumstance is agreeable to the will of God, and 
that he is pleased with the " fruit of the body," we 
need only to refer to the testimony of his approbation, 
and to the benediction pronounced upon parents 
and children, as recorded in the Scriptures. 

" He will love thee and bless thee, and multiply 
thee, he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and 
the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in the 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 77 

fruit of thy body." " The Lord shall increase you 
more and more, you and your children." "Blessed 
shall be the fruit of thy body ; they shall not labour 
in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the 
seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring 
with them." " The children of thy servants shall 
continue, and their seed shall be established before 
thee ; he hath blessed the children within thee." I 
will give them one heart and one way that they 
may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and their 
children after them." "So children are an heritage 
of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his re- 
ward." " As arrows are in the hand of a mighty 
man (for his safety, defence, and support) so are 
children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath 
his quiver full of them, they shall not be ashamed, 
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." 
" Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands, happy 
shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy 
wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thy 
house, thy children like olive plants round about 
thy table." " Behold, that thus shall the man be 
blessed that feareth the Lord, yea, thou shall see 
thy children's children." 

Such are the delightful scriptural testimonies 
which God has given of his approbation of pious 
parents and their offspring ; such the encouraging 
assurances that he will bless them with that blessing 
which maketh rich, and to which he will add no 

1* 



78 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

sorrow. How striking was the blessing the dying 
and venerable patriarch pronounced upon his be- 
loved Joseph, " Joseph is a fruitful bough even a 
fruitful bough, by a well, whose branches run over 
the wall. The God of thy father shall help thee, 
and the Almighty shall bless thee with blessings of 
heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, 
blessings of the breast and the womb" Thus are 
they indeed blessed who have children to rise up 
before them like tender plants. Who have " sons as 
plants grown up in their youth, and daughters as cor- 
ner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace." 
We may consider also that the possession of 
children is an honourable circumstance, and af- 
fords great satisfaction to the minds of parents. 
The very name of mother is pleasing to the mind. 
It is a dear and honoured appellation. It contains 
every thing that is affectionate, tender, and endear- 
ing. It is a name which recalls qualities of the most 
interesting and important description. It contains 
a charm of the most alluring kind. It is associated 
with the very best feelings of our nature, and the 
sweetest reminiscences of infancy, childhood, and 
youth ; and a person who does not love, revere, and 
honour the maternal name must be destitute of the 
common sympathies and kindly charities of his spe- 
cies. I wonder not that females should desire to 
stand in the endearing situation, and bear the de- 
lightful and dignified title of a mother. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 79 

The circumstance of being blessed with children 
is both honourable and happy. " Marriage is hon- 
ourable in all, and the bed undefiled," and the sweet 
and interesting pledges of so endearing a union are 
viewed with sensations of pure delight. In ancient 
times sterility was viewed as a curse, and in modern 
times it is not generally considered a blessing ; and 
daily observation corroborates the fact, that those 
who have no children, do not consider themselves 
so happy as those who have. They are liable 
to cherish a feeling of envy with respect to those 
who are surrounded with a healthy, and beloved 
offspring ; they covet their neighbours' children if 
they covet nothing else. There is much to inspire 
joy, in the sight of parents, encircled with their rose 
buds of promise, those emblems of the original. 
These sweet " olive plants" form the most precious 
chaplet around the parents' head, they wear it with 
pleasure ; others behold it with satisfaction ; a few see 
it with envy. We need not wonder that those who 
are written childless should adopt the children of 
others as their own ; they are not happy without 
having some one to whom they can make a transfer 
of their affections, who may occupy their attentions, 
bear their name, and inherit their substance. Where 
these precious, though uncertain comforts are be- 
stowed, how tenacious and firm the parental hold is 
upon them. They are reckoned among the jewels, 
the choicest property of the household (would that 



80 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

they were never household gods, as well as house- 
hold goods.) However numerous may be these 
beautiful, though brief favours, not one could be 
spared with convenience or comfort ; — could be lost 
without pain and grief ; and suppose one were to be 
demanded, where is the parent who could tell which 
he could spare best, or which he could spare at all. 
The first would be too intelligent in its mind, I pray 
thee have that excused. The second is just beginning 
to be interesting by its engaging prattle, death must 
not have that ; the third is too pretty ; and the next 
too much like its parent, they must be retained ; thus 
parental fondness would suggest excuses and apolo- 
gies for each one, however numerous the group. 
This circumstance shows they are viewed as valua- 
ble blessings ; as " good'gifts, (not perfect or perma- 
nent ones) from the father of lights." Indeed, children 
bring a thousand little pleasures and enjoyments to 
their parents ; they are a constant source of amuse- 
ment. If the mind be dull, they often cheer by their 
engaging manners ; and frequently has a parent 
who has been distressed, and disappointed with un- 
toward circumstances in the world, felt relief in the 
interesting and innocent society of his playful chil- 
dren. They beguile many an hour which other- 
wise might have been employed in melancholy 
musings. When a child has occasioned its parents 
a restless night or many restless nights together, its 
sweet innocent smile upon its parents in the morn- 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 81 

ing, has been considered as an ample compensation 
for all the uneasiness and pain it has occasioned. 

There has always been a desire in the mind of 
married persons to possess an offspring, and the 
desire itself is not improper, if confined within pro- 
per bounds ; — if not attended with impatience and 
repining". So great is the desire in individuals to 
have children, that a female in patriarchal times 
said, " give me children, or I die f this was carrying 
her desire beyond all legitimate bounds. The de- 
sire for children, and impatience at being childless 
was strikingly exemplified in the pious Hannah. 
See 1 Sam. i. 2. 

It probably may not be considered so great a 
blessing in the present day to have a numerous 
family as it was in ancient times, particularly when 
the pecuniary resources are very limited, and ap- 
parently inadequate to the maintenance of many 
children. Most assuredly an increase of offspring 
produces an increase of anxiety, though there are 
not any pious, and but few ungodly parents who 
would willingly part with one of their olive branches. 
If only one should be sickly and failing, with what 
attention is it nursed and cherished! What pa- 
rental care is felt ! What means are used for its 
restoration to health ! And even among the poor- 
est classes of society, where others might think that 
a child might very well be spared, on account of 
the difficulty of supporting it, what sacrifices are 



82 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

made to retain these providential favours. This 
circumstance proves what value is placed upon the 
fruit of the body, and thus though there were some 
considerations which rendered a numerous seed a 
greater blessing in former times than it is now 
viewed ; yet the possession of children is reckoned 
in general a delightful feature of domestic life. 

And 0, what joy is felt by the female at the birth 
of her child; she considers herself " a joyful mother." 
The previous pangs, however severe, are all lost 
and forgotten, at the very first glance which she 
takes of her infant. The satisfaction she experiences 
seems an ample compensation for all her toil, weak- 
ness, and grief. Our Saviour beautifully and deli- 
cately alludes to this circumstance, when speaking 
of the transition which the disciples should ex- 
perience from sorrow to joy, he says " you shall be 
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, be- 
cause her hour is come ; but as soon as she is 
delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the 
anguish, for joy that a man child is born into the 
world." 

Consider then the pleasures, as well as the pains 
attending the possession of children. Rejoice and 
be exceeding glad at these alleviating circumstances. 
See how God has tempered your afflictions with 
mercies, and exclaim " he hath done all things 
well" 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE, 83 

Besides we may consider this trial as among 
those things which co-operate for the spiritual ad- 
vantage of those " who love God, and are the called 
according to his purpose." It is a severe trial to the 
female, but like all other trials, if sanctified, will 
issue in the increasing purity and devotedness of 
the soul to God. " By this shall the iniquity of 
Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take 
away sin ;" This trial will elicit the exercise of faith. 
It is in seasons of anticipated or present trials that 
faith is principally needed. It is then that the weak- 
ness of its exercise is often discovered, and its super- 
lative value developed. It is then that the soul, 
strong in faith, grasps firmly the precious promises 
of the gospel, and reposes with unshaken reliance 
upon the divine power, exclaiming " what time I 
am afraid I will trust in thee? It was when the 
apostles were called to the discharge of very ardu- 
ous duties, that they felt the necessity for the exer- 
cise and increase of faith, and earnestly addressed 
the Lord on this behalf, saying, " Increase our faith." . 
It was in a season of severe domestic affliction, that 
the distressed father exclaimed, " help thou my un- 
belief." In the discharge of duties which are pain- 
ful, and in the endurance of sufferings which are 
oppressive, faith must put forth all its vigour, lift 
the soul above all the dark clouds which surround 
it, and rest upon the arm of the Almighty. It is 
not when the sun of prosperity sheds its beams of 



84 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

cheerfulness upon our path ; it is not when the tem- 
pest of affliction is hushed ; it is not when the sur- 
face of life's ocean is calm ; it is not when a busy 
and destructive enemy slumbers, that the soul feels 
the need or the strong exercise of faith, but when, 
like Peter, we sink in the water ; or Abraham sacri- 
ficing his dear and only son, that we see and feel 
the necessity of being ; " strong in faith," — it is then 
that we seek earnestly its advancement. How 
pleasing is it when the pious female can, amidst all 
her difficulties and sorrows, exercise a steady and 
lively faith in the Son of God ; how does it lighten 
her heavy load ! how does it ease her poignant grief! 
how does it soothe her perturbed bosom ! how does 
it allay the palpitations of fear ! how does it keep the 
soul from sinking, when looking forward to the 
affliction, illustrating and confirming the encourag- 
ing language of the prophet, which he addresses to 
the Almighty, " Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he 
trusted in thee." Thus while afflictions give exer- 
cise to faith, faith in return supports and strengthens 
the soul under trials. Faith is strengthened by ex- 
ercise. The faculties of the mind are impaired if 
not employed ; the body loses its health and vigour 
by inactivity, so it is with the graces of the soul ; 
they must be in constant exercise, and what so 
likely to accomplish this as dispensations of provi- 
dence which are dark in their aspect. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 85 

Humility is promoted by this affliction. Those 
who are enduring or expecting to endure this trial, 
cannot but reflect with deep humility upon the con- 
sequences of original transgression, and the effects 
of actual and personal sin. They will think not 
only how sin has brought suffering, but degrada- 
tion also, upon the human race. It is, indeed, humi- 
liating to see the situation in which the female is 
placed at such a time as this. And it is well to be 
thus humbled. Such a state of mind is consistent 
with her circumstances. Meekness and humility 
adorn the character, and become the situation of 
the afflicted believer. It is always honourable and 
advantageous to be, like the blessed Redeemer, 
" meek and lowly in heart ; and if trials superinduce 
and promote this state of mind, they must be con- 
sidered blessings, though coming in a fearful shape. 

Patience also is promoted by the affliction. This 
truth is confirmed by the Apostle in the 5th chapter 
to the Romans, the 3d and 4th verses. " And not 
only so, but we glory in tribulations alsol knowing 
that tribulation worketh patience." The trials of 
females bring into exercise all that patient and en- 
during spirit for which they are, and ever have been 
pre-eminent. The finest exhibition and illustration 
of patience, you will see in some suffering mothers. 
One half of their anxious and distressed feelings are 
never uttered to human ears, they are known only 
to God and themselves. Patience in them has its 
8 



86 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASOSf 

perfect work. One reason why this admirable 
grace shines so conspicuously in them is, because 
they have such constant need of its exercise, and 
this divine grace, like faith, is increased in propor- 
tion as it is exercised. Females have been observed 
to bear afflictions with greater calmness, resigna- 
tion, and silence than the other sex. If there is one 
motto more applicable to them than another, it is 
this, "Patient in tribulation." It is a great cause 
for thankfulness with females, that as they are liable 
to a greater number and variety of trials than others, 
that they are favoured with so much patience under 
painful and protracted sufferings. And if these afflic- 
tions have a tendency to promote this amiable and 
necessary grace : let them be reckoned among those 
things which work for their good. Indeed, all the 
graces of the Spirit are quickened by trials ; they 
never appear so lovely, nor shine so brightly as in 
the dark night of sorrow. 

" Trials make the promise sweet, 
Trials add new life to prayer, 
Trials bring me to his feet, 
Lay me low, and keep me there." 

Let pious but afflicted mothers therefore consider 
what advantages may be derived from those dispen- 
sations in which they are particularly interested. 
Let them view these things " as the trial of their 
faith, which is much more precious than gold that 
perisheth, though it be tried with fire ; knowing that 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 87 

such a trial will be found unto praise, and honour, 
and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Let a 
firmer trust be placed Upon the Lord, " who worketh 
all things according to the counsel of his own will," 
" who is too wise to err, and too good to be unkind." 
Let faith in his name forbid you fear. By faith, 
commit your concerns into the hands of a faithful 
and unchanging friend. " Be not faithless, but be- 
lieving," at the same time, " be not high-minded, but 
fear." Be not petulant, but patient. Pray that your 
trials may be sanctified to the purification of your 
souls, and to a greater weanedness " from this pre- 
sent evil world." 

If the considerations I have suggested, be borne in 
mind, they will not fail to impart support and com- 
fort to the soul, when the evil day is approaching, 
and when it shall arrive, your situation, though 
painful in consequence of the fall, yet admits of 
many alleviating circumstances. Be, therefore, of 
good cheer. 

" Ye fearful souls, fresh courage take, 
The clouds ye so much dread, 
Are big with mercy, and will break 
With blessings on your head." 

Ponder in your hearts all the things which have 
been said ; and if the former part should tend to 
humble, the latter will have a tendency to cheer the 
drooping spirits, and through the divine blessing, 
strengthen you for " the fiery trial which is to try 
you." 



88 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 



HYMNS. 

ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE PROMISES. 

How sweet on the promise to rest. 

When nature's affliction is near ; 
The soul that can trust it is blest, 

And safely may smile away fear. 

Though I cannot escape the distress, 
Which mothers all feel at this hour ; 

More lightly it surely will press 

On the soul that confides in God's power. 

The Lord has in kindness declared, 
That all who will trust in his name 

In this trial shall gently be spared, 
And live, his rich grace to proclaim. 

This promise shall be to my soul, 
A messenger sent from the skies ; 

An anchor when rough billows roll, 
A refuge when tempests arise. 

Blest Spirit, the promise fulfil, 
Its comforts impart to my mind, 

Then calmly I'll bow to thy will — 
To the cup of affliction resigned. 

FEAR DISMISSED. 

Why, when dark clouds round you gather, 
Should your trembling spirit sink, 
Why not look at Jesus rather, 
And of his sweet promise think 1 

Fancy will be often painting 
Scenes in dark and fearful shade ; 
Gloomy souls will oft be fainting, 
Of prospective woes afraid. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 89 

Cease such vain anticipation, 
Fears like yours are without ground 
For the day of tribulation, 
Strength sufficient will be found. 

God is love, and will not leave you, 
When you most his kindness need ; 
God is just, and carCt deceive you, 
Though your faith be weak indeed. 

CONFIDENCE EXPRESSED IN THE PROSPECT OF TRIAL. 

Jesus, thy presence now I seek, 

Thy presence now I need ; 
Thy promise says, thou wilt not break 

A bruised, tuneless reed. 

Approaching near the dreaded hour, 

"Why should I then complain ; 
Let me once more enjoy thatpow'r, 

Which none e'er sought in vain. 

Encircled with paternal arms, 

No danger will be near ; 
Thy presence shall prevent alarms, 

And dissipate my fear. 

. Thou didst, O Jesus, undergo 
For man the deepest grief, 
That he, in every scene of wo 
Might feel a sweet relief. 

Gethsemane thy travail knew, 

The soul's sad agony ; 
Thy body's pangs did Calvary view, 

When fasten'd to the tree. 

How well then, can'st thou sympathize, 

In all my pains and grief; 
Canst wipe the tear from sorrow's eye, 

And give the sought relief. 

8* 



90 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

UNBELIEF CHECKED FROM A VIEW OF THE PAST 

O strange infirmity to think, 
That He will leave my soul to sink 

In darkness and distress ; 
Who has appeared in times of old, 
Sav'd when deep billows o'er me roll'd, 

And cheer'd me with his grace. 
What sweeter pledge could God bestow, 
Of help in future scenes of wo, 

Than grace already given ; 
But. unbelief, that hateful thing, 
Oft makes me sigh when I should sing, 

And shut the gate of heav'n. 
But would the Lord such grace have shown 
And sav'd me by his pow'r alone, 

In seasons which are past ; 
If he had not design'd to show, 
The same kind power and mercy too, 

So long as grief shall last. 
O no, he never will forsake 
Those who of his great love partake, 

Though they unjustly fear ; 
Having preserved them from all ill, 
He'll prove a loving Saviour still, 

And with his grace be near. 
Six troubles have his mighty aid, 
His mercy and his truth display'd, 

In all their plenitude. ; 
Then will he in the seventh deny, 
His grace to those who daily cry 
To Him, the Great and Good? 
His presence past demands my trust, 
For then he prov'd that he was just, 

As well as good and kind : 
Then for the future I'll depend ; 
The promise of so firm a friend 

Shall soothe the fearful mind. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 91 



CHAPTER IV. 

Thankfulness for delivering Mercy — Private and Public Praise — 
Ingratitude condemned — Formality and Superstition guarded 
against — Domestic Joy at the Restoration of the Female — The 
Value of a Mother — Congratulations of the Husband — Present- 
ing the Child to God — Prayer — Its Success Instances — In- 
struction — Means blessed — Example — Children not to be Idol- 
ize d — Praye ?•— Hy m ns . 

The entrance of persons upon the matrimonial 
state, while it produces a new class of feelings and 
enjoyments, at the same time imposes a new series 
of duties upon them, and more especially so, if God 
in his providence has favoured them with an off- 
spring. These are duties of the most responsible 
kind, they are peculiarly arduous and anxious ; and 
for the proper and successful discharge of which a 
large portion of grace is requisite, and the obliga- 
tions which urge them to an active discharge of 
these relative and personal duties, are the most 
strong and endearing. You who have obtained 
mercy in the houi of trial, what a claim has God 
upon you for heart-felt gratitude ; a claim which is 
reasonable and irresistible. I will suppose that you 
have, through the tender and paternal care and 
compassion of the Lord, been recently made the liv- 
ing mother, of a living, healthy, and well-formed 
child ; contrary to all your groundless fears, the 
Lord hath appeared for you. You found strength 
equal to your day of suffering. He sustained you 



92 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

by his Almighty arm, and showed himself in the 
hour of danger strong to deliver, mighty to save. 
He favoured you with a sense of his presence, gave 
you a happy frame of mind, amidst your deepest 
suiferings. Now, this is no ordinary mercy. It is 
a blessing which all mothers have not experienced 
in similar circumstances of danger and distress, and 
you are conscious that you have not deserved so 
much goodness. It has been unmerited love in 
your heavenly Father. "He has turned for you 
your mourning into dancing ; he has put oif your 
sackcloth, and girded you with gladness," and why? 
" to the end that your glory may sing praise unto 
him, and not be silent." Every deliverance in, or 
from the hour of danger and weakness, demands a 
song of gratitude to the author of such a deliver- 
ance. More especially does he claim a song from 
you, for having so promptly appeared for you, in a 
season of such imminent peril, when your life was 
drawing near to the grave. Indeed, he deserves 
and demands a double song from you ; for he has 
not only spared a life, but he has given one. He 
has not only preserved the root, but the branch, and 
thus has put a new song into your mouth. 

No doubt your heart aspired with the warm glow 
of gratitude to God, as soon as it was said, " The 
child is born and the mother is safe." And your 
subsequent convalescence deepened the gratitude 
and increased the song. Your language would cor- 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. \)6 

respond with the female, who said, " My soul doth 
magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in 
God my Saviour, for he hath regarded the low estate 
of his hand-maiden." 

The first duty of the pious mother, for whom the 
Lord has appeared, is to present herself to God in 
secret, there to pour out the grateful feelings of her 
heart. Mercies so distinguishing, should lead her to 
present herself a living sacrifice unto God, holy and 
acceptable, which is her reasonable, and ought to be 
her delightful service ; and this indeed is but a small 
return which she makes to the great Deliverer. The 
chamber of delivering mercy should be converted into 
the chamber of cheerful praise, where personal ac- 
knowledgments may be made for personal mercies. 
Doubtless the grateful mother longs to fall upon her 
bended knees, that she may perform unto the Lord her 
vows, acknowledging her love and obligations to her 
blessed Redeemer, who sustained her sinking heart in 
moments of weakness, and said unto her, "when thou 
passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and 
through the fire, and it shall not kindle upon thee." 
The place which has been a witness to the groan of 
distress, should now be a witness to the tears of 
delight, and the grateful offering of the life thus 
preserved. 

And this personal dedication should be succeeded 
by public acknowledgment, as soon as prudence 
and decency shall permit. It is desirable to enter 
the sanctuary, there to praise the Lord for his great 



94 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

goodness. There will you perform unto the Lord 
those vows which you made in secret and in sorrow. 
Did you not when in affliction, or as soon as the 
danger seemed past, say, " if the Lord will be pleased 
in his great mercy to restore his hand-maid, so that 
I go not down to the grave, I will surely go unto 
the altar of God, of God my exceeding joy ; I will 
go even unto his temple with the voice of melody 
and thanksgiving, and make mention of the loving 
kindness of the Lord." It was thus that pious 
Hannah vowed, and performed her vows unto the 
Lord. It is much to be feared, however, that the 
custom of returning thanks in public for every 
female who appears in the house of God after her 
confinement, a duty alas ! too generally neglected, 
(in the greater number of instances at least,) par- 
takes of formality rather than of heartfelt gratitude. 
Often, alas ! is it to be feared and lamented, that the 
minister has offered thanks on behalf of those who 
never felt a spark of gratitude in their own bosoms. 
In fact they never thanked God in secret, nor would 
they pretend to it in the sanctuary, were it not in 
conformity with custom, and from a fear, lest if 
they should not do it, their friends, neighbours, and 
fellow worshippers, should think the truth respect- 
ing them, that is, that they are ungrateful. Too 
often is this custom a solemn mockery : to request 
thanks to be offered, when no thanks are felt, and 
when none have been previously presented in secret. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 95 

Or in the family. If the heart were really sensi- 
ble of the great mercy bestowed, a grateful aspira- 
tion would have found its way many a time to the 
throne of God, before the appearance of the female 
in public. Those persons who, from formality, 
desire that acknowledgments should be presented 
to the Almighty on their behalf, would not on any 
account have the ceremony omitted, but alas that 
they should feel no obligation of heart ! To praise 
God with the lip without the heart is a sacrifice 
which God will not — which he cannot accept. Did 
we not know, both by experience and observation, 
that ingratitude is a feeling inherent in every soul 
by nature, and too strongly cleaving to the best of 
mankind, in reference to the Divine Being, we 
should consider it impossible for any one to be so 
base as not to lift up the soul to God in devout 
acknowledgments, for deliverance vouchsafed in 
this trying hour. 

The female heart, with few exceptions, is sus- 
ceptible of the noblest and tenderest feelings, and 
one would think that lively gratitude would be a 
constant guest within it; but there are some ungrate- 
ful lepers, who, after signal deliverance from bodily 
afflictions, return not to give glory to the Lord who 
healeth them. " Were there not ten cleansed, but 
where are the nine ?" There was only one out of 
ten that recollected the giver in the enjoyment of 
the gift. This remark admits of too just and too 



96 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

extensive an application to the case before us. 
There is too great an insensibility to the mercy 
received. Gratitude to the creature is often stronger, 
though for a small favour, than that which is expe- 
rienced in reference to the giver of all good, though 
the blessing received is incalculably greater than 
what man can bestow. Thus we perceive that 
there is an obligation felt to the physician, and his 
skill and success are extolled, and he is recom- 
mended to the attention of others. The nurse is 
praised for her care and attention ; kind friends are 
thanked for their sympathy and solicitude — for 
their affectionate inquiries and sincere wishes ; and 
all this is very proper, we do not approve of ingra- 
titude or injustice toward our fellow-creatures, who 
have benefited us ; but shall the instrument have 
all the praise, or a greater portion, while the author 
has none, or but a little part. Shall he who gave 
efficacy to the means ; who rendered successful the 
skilful operations of the medical attendant ; who, by 
his Almighty power, sustained the sinking and ex- 
hausted frame, without which divine interposition 
the means would have proved abortive, and the 
mother and child alike have fallen prematurely into 
the jaws of death. Shall not he receive a moiety of 
praise, who well deserves the most. Yes, he should 
receive the first and largest offering of gratitude. 
Not unto them, but unto thee, O Lord, be the glory, 
for unto thee does it belong. O wretched ingrates 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 97 

are they who thank the creature that does the least, 
and forget the Creator who does the most, and that 
effectively : who adore a fallible mortal, and over- 
look the source of life and preservation. — Strange is 
it that those who are under such immense obliga- 
tions unto Him with whom are the issues of life, 
should need reproof — should require to be reminded 
that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift ! 
— Strange that it should be said of those, who are 
eminent for fine sensibilities and amiable feelings, 
" The God in whose hand thy life is, and whose are 
all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." The scriptures 
inform us that "whoso offereth praise, glorifieth 
God ;" but your praise has slumbered. O no longer 
let your mercies pass by unnoticed, and die without 
praises. Why let your harp lie by unstrung and 
useless ? cannot you manage one cheerful strain ? 
Your "hand may be out" of late, for want of prac- 
tice, or perhaps, which is still worse, you have never 
yet touched the sacred instrument; but God will 
regard and accept the attempt, if sincere, however 
unharmonious it may appear to yourself. Adopt 
the beautiful soliloquy of the sweet singer of Israel, 
" my heart is fixed, I will sing and give praise. 
Awake up my glory. Awake psaltery and harp. 
I myself will awake early." You and your harp 
. have too long slept in guilty and inglorious silence ; 
" Now it is high time to awake out of sleep," think 
of your mercies, and praise the Lord for them. 
9 



98 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

" Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within 
me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my 
soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth 
all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, 
who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who 
crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender 
mercies." Can any words better express the sen- 
timents and feelings of a thankful heart ? Can any 
language be better adapted to the circumstances of a 
person recently brought up from the borders of de- 
struction, and the mouth of the grave ? " The 
Lord has taken from me (says the grateful mother,) 
the cup of sorrow, and put into my hand the cup of 
salvation, running over with blessings ; the cup of 
grief shall be exchanged for the cup of gratitude. 
What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits." 
O that there were not so many, who, like Hezekiah, 
" render not unto the Lord, according to the benefit 
done unto them." Many persons are glad at the. 
deliverance, who are not grateful /br it. Some will 
say "I am truly rejoiced to think I am safe once 
more ;" but this may be uttered, and often is, without 
any devout sense of obligation to the Divine being, 
for his preserving mercy. These persons are very 
much pleased to think they are rescued from a 
perilous situation, but God is not in their thoughts ; 
he is not in their affections. The cleansed lepers 
were all of them truly glad that they were so quickly, 
easily, effectually, and gratuitously relieved from 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 99 

their loathsome disease, but there was only one that 
was glad and grateful too, and that was he who 
returned to give glory to God ; and there is also a 
difference between the gratitude of the heart, and 
those cold, formal, and indifferent expressions of 
thanks which some utter. "I thank God" is a 
sentence often used without meaning or feeling, or 
at best but a passing compliment to the God of 
heaven. It is no uncommon thing for females to 
exclaim, when the danger is apparently over, "thank 
God, I am safe ;" but alas they too frequently say 
this, without thinking seriously of the great Deliverer, 
or feeling thankful for the great deliverance. It is 
often no more than a common canting expression, 
(like " God bless you,") in the mouth of every Phari- 
see, and not unfrequently in the lips of the most 
profligate and ungrateful. Real gratitude consists 
more in the feeling of the heart, than the expression 
of the mouth. The words of thanksgiving may 
issue from the lips, when no grateful feeling ascends 
from the heart ; but where there is a thankful soul, 
the feeling will find its way in audible and suitable 
language. 

It is the duty of those to whom the Lord has been 
gracious in the time of sorrow and distress, to appear 
publicly in the sanctuary, but let such bring no 
"vain oblation," let them not offer' a formal sacri- 
fice, but a devoted soul. Let them think of the 
great goodness of the Lord to them, and while praise 



100 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

is presented on their account, let the desires of the 
soul be in unison, then will the words of the mouth 
and the meditation of the heart prove acceptable to 
God. How many examples have we in scripture of 
this public presentation of the person in the house 
of the Lord, and this offering up of solemn praise to 
God for eminent deliverances of a personal and 
domestic nature. " In those days was Hezekiah sick 
unto death," but God commissioned the prophet to 
say unto him, " Thus saith the Lord, the God of 
David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have 
seen thy tears, I will heal thee ; the third day thou 
shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. And Heze- 
kiah said unto Isaiah, what shall the sign be, that I 
shall go up into the house of the Lord." After the 
deliverance of his soul from death, his eyes from 
tears, and his feet from falling, he went into the 
house of the Lord, that he might there praise the 
name of the Lord for his great mercy. Similar was 
the conduct of the Psalmist, when delivered from 
affliction. " Thou broughtest us into the net, thou 
laidest affliction upon our loins; thou hast caused 
men to ride over our heads ; we went through fire, 
and through water ; but thou broughtest us out into 
a wealthy place." Here was the affliction and the 
deliverance ; now see the effect upon the soul — the 
practical result of the reception and enjoyment of 
the mercy. " I will go into thy house with burnt- 
offerings, I will pay thee my vows, which my lips 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 101 

have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I 
was in trouble ; I will offer unto thee burnt sacri- 
fices of fadings, with the incense of rams, I will 
offer bullocks with goats. Selah. Blessed be God, 
who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his 
mercy from me." The man whom Jesus made 
whole, entered into the Temple, and there Jesus 
again met him, and doubtless received his thankful 
acknowledgments for the blessings he had bestowed. 
Thus it becometh those who have experienced such 
mercy at the hands of God, as that we have princi- 
pally in view in this discourse : the blessing demands 
not only private, but public recognition.* 

As this offering of thanks should not be done for- 

* There is one way in which those who have experienced the 
divine mercy and power in the hour of peril, may show their 
obligations to God — that is, to help as far as possible those 
females who are placed in the same situation of anxiety and 
trial as they themselves have* been ; but who are deprived, 
through providential circumstances, of those comforts of a 
temporal kind which others possess, and which are so desirable 
at such a season of domestic trouble. This little work may fall 
into the hands of many who enjoy every comfort and conveni- 
ence necessary or desirable. While you enjoy these earthly 
blessings — is it not a duty — is it not the most substantial and 
practical proof of your gratitude to God to think of those of your 
sex who are miserable and wretched, and who want at that 
time, more than any other, suitable clothing and food. Ah, 
little do many who have enough and to spare at such a time, 
think how many are suffering for the want of common neces- 
saries, and thus find that this circumstance, which is at all times 
afflictive, is rendered more so by the addition of poverty and 
9* 



102 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

malty, so neither should it be attended to supersti- 
tiousty. Some, even in the present day, when light 
so rapidly spreads, dispersing the darkness of error, 
attach something of a superstitious idea to the first 
appearance of the female in public after her accouch- 
ment. They would not, upon any consideration, 
appear out of the house till they had been "churched" 
or " chapeled." It would be dreadful to take a short 
refreshing walk in the garden, or the green mea- 
dows, or to pay a short visit to a neighbour or a 
friend ! Now the first appearance in the sanctuary, 
in preference to any other place, is not censurable in 
itself. If it spring from really pious and conscien- 
tious motives ; from spiritual, rather than supersti- 

want. It is desirable that in every town and village a society 
should be formed for making up^ clothes and childbed-linen, 
which might be lent to the poor ; to such an object no humane 
person would refuse a small contribution, and especially would 
mothers feel it a duty and pleasure to aid so benevolent a work. 
In every place it only needs to be proposed, and what an exten- 
sive blessing would it prove to necessitous lying-in females. 
It would be desirable also to connect with such a plan, the visit- 
ing of females under these circumstances. How much useful 
advice might be given with regard to the temporal situation of 
the mother and child, and above all what religious instruc- 
tion and spiritual consolation might be administered. Let 
those who have never yet shown their gratitude in this way, 
commence without delay, as far as their circumstances will 
allow, in relieving in someway or other, those poor females, 
who, m the hour of nature's sorrow, do not possess aught in this 
world to make them comfortable, but who have some claims 
upon those who do. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE, 103 

tious feelings, such motives, such feelings should be 
respected. But there is an idea, that it is not "lucky," 
as it is called. Some nurses and mothers would 
think it a serious circumstance, amounting in their 
estimation to a calamity, to be seen abroad before 
they had been seen in the sanctuary. But if a per- 
son were to say, " I wish my first visit to be paid to 
the house of God, to acknowledge the great mercy 
of the Lord," let it by all means be done, but from a 
lively sense of gratitude, and not from custom or 
ignorant superstition. Let all such unworthy mo- 
tives be abandoned, there is neither religion nor rea- 
son, neither gratitude nor grace, in such customs 
and ceremonies. Ever be careful that superstitions 
and silly ceremonies do not take the place of heart- 
felt gratitude. 

Thus does it appear that the first act of devotion 
should be the secret presentation of the soul and 
body to the Lord ; a renewed consecration of the 
whole person to the service and glory of God. 
The next an appearance in the house of God to ac- 
knowledge his almighty love and paternal care in 
this season of pain and peril. You, who are under 
such obligations as these, cherish the feelings of 
lively gratitude. Let such mercy as you have expe- 
rienced in the hour of nature's sorrow, be associated 
with your best recollections ; never let the remem- 
brance be erased from the mind ; do not engrave 
your afflictions upon a rock, with a pen of iron, and 



104 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

your mercies upon the sand, which the first passing 
wind might render scarcely legible ; let the remem- 
brance of affliction be only as the waters which pass 
away, or if remembered, be it only for the purpose 
of showing the greatness of the deliverance, and 
thus quickening the too languishing affections of 
love and gratitude. Have you set up an " Eben- 
ezer," often review it, and the circumstance which 
gave rise unto it. 

Should some considerable time have elapsed since 
you experienced the danger and deliverance referred 
to, yet surely it must be both pleasant and profitable 
to be reminded of God's "former loving kind- 
nesses, which have been ever of old." Let these 
observations, as" they will refresh your recollections 
in reference to the danger you some years since ex- 
perienced, also revive a sense of obligation, and re- 
enkindle the almost expiring feeling of gratitude, 
« Bless the Lord at all times, and let his praise be 
continually in your mouth." You were thankful at 
the time ; but such mercies demand acknowledg- 
ment, not only at the time, but through all time, and 
even through eternity itself. 

And in this joy and gratitude for delivering mercy, 
others cannot fail to unite ; for the circumstance is 
not confined in its results to the female alone. In 
her sufferings and safety the welfare of many is often 
involved. Few persons can be unacquainted with 
the important position which a mother occupies in 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 105 

the domestic circle. Even her temporary confine- 
ment to the chamber, and her suspension from the 
active duties and superintendence of the family, is 
productive of many, and sometimes serious incon- 
veniences, especially where there is a numerous 
household. Servants and children will often take 
advantage of the absence of the watchful eye of a 
mistress and mother. All that is dear to a husband, 
all that is important to a young family (should there 
be one) is included in the safety of the maternal 
head ; and if temporary suspension, through afflic- 
tion, be a great inconvenience, what must be the 
entire removal by death of an affectionate mother — 
a dutiful and beloved wife. Such a loss, according 
to human calculation, is irreparable. It produces a 
chasm which cannot be readily supplied or filled up. 
Who can supply a valued mother's place ? Who can 
feel her anxiety for her children ? In process of time 
another may be found to assume the same name, 
occupy the same place, professedly discharge the 
same duties ; but it is impossible she can feel like 
her who suffered the anguish of bringing them forth ; 
who nourished them from her own breasts, who 
viewed them as bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh. 
In the one case the relationship is that of nature, in 
the other that of voluntary assumption, and arises 
more out of a consideration to the father, than love 
and tenderness to the children ; and in some cases 
children have been made undeserved sufferers, 



106 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

through the conduct of one who has taken the name 
and place of a natural but deceased mother ; and 
the influence of such an individual over the father, 
(especially if the second union should be productive 
of offspring,) is such as too frequently to chill his 
affections, and induce him to show a cruel partiality 
to the children of his second love. 

Should not then the safety of the female, in this 
season of domestic solicitude and personal sorrow, 
be considered a blessing of the greatest magnitude ; 
and ought it not to excite lively gratitude, not only 
in the immediate object of suffering and deliverance, 
but also in the husband, the children, the domestics, 
the relatives, and the friends of the favoured indivi- 
dual. The husband who recognises the power and 
mercy of God in the deliverance and restoration of 
a beloved partner, one so essential to his personal 
and domestic comfort, will receive his dear com^ 
panion as a new blessing conferred upon him by the 
Almighty : as one alive from the dead. He will re- 
ceive her at God's hands even as at the first bestow- 
ment, as an invaluable boon. If the husband min- 
gled his tears with those of his suffering partner ; if 
he felt from sympathy more than can be expressed, 
when she was in perilous circumstances, he will 
surely mingle his song of gratitude with hers, now 
recovering mercy is. the theme. If now he feels no 
joy at the restoration, his tears in her sorrows were 
insincere. The affectionate couple, with one heart, 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 107 

will unite in secret, will unite in the family, will 
unite in public, in presenting their thankful offer- 
ings ; for so close and endearing is the union of 
heart, of sentiment, and spirit between them, that 
what affects the one, by way of affliction or mercy, 
must affect and interest the other. That husband is 
surely not entitled to the name, for he does not pos- 
sess the feelings of one, who witnesses the recovery 
of his partner, without lifting up his soul in thank- 
fulness to the Father of mercies, for continuing to 
him a blessing which constitutes the sweetest balm 
of life, whose presence cheers, whose absence clouds 
his heart ; whose smiles tend to make many a do- 
mestic burden light — many a difficulty easy — many 
a duty pleasant. When the highly-favoured Eliza- 
beth was delivered of a son, not only did her hus^ 
band Zacharias feel and express bis gratitude, but 
we are told that " her neighbours and cousins, 
heard how the Lord had shown great mercy, and 
they rejoiced with her." Such a pleasing event as 
the restoration of a mother from sickness to health, 
from danger to safety, from distress to comfort, ought 
to have a cheering influence over the whole of her 
domestic circle. Her first appearance in the family 
will be hailed with delight ; her re-entrance into 
society will be witnessed with pleasure by all her 
friends and connexions. She will be congratulated ; 
they will be pleased ; God will be glorified. 

Such will be the grateful sensations of the pious 



108 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

female, when brought from the chamber of confine- 
ment, and the bed of sickness and languishing, that 
her language will be, " O magnify the Lord with 
me, and let us exalt his name together, for I was 
brought low and he helped me." 

Again. A parent who has experienced the mercy 
of the Lord in the hour of nature's sorrow will not 
only present herself, but her child also (should it 
prove a living one) to him who gave it. Many an 
anxious thought is felt, many an earnest prayer is 
offered by the pious parent before the child is born. 
Some children have been the subjects of solemn 
and successful prayer while lying unconsciously in 
their mother's womb ; God has regarded this prayer 
of faith. From the earliest times we have instances 
of children thus dedicated to the Lord. The Al- 
mighty has always particularly interested himself 
in the offspring of his people, and is well pleased 
with the presentation of them. They are his fa- 
vours bestowed upon us. He can continue them as 
long as he pleases, and can call them away when 
and how he thinks proper ; and we should recog- 
nise this claim by presenting them to him as soon 
as they are born, and earnestly praying for them. 
Such an appearance of parents and their children 
before God, after deliverance vouchsafed to the mo- 
ther, was enjoined and practised under the law. 
Pious mothers, though they are freed from the bur- 
densome ceremonies of the Levitical economy, are 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 109 

not exempted from the obligations which those rites 
were intended to express, viz. Thankfulness for the 
past — renewed dedication of her own and her child's 
person to God — an acknowledgment of moral guilt, 
and firm reliance by faith upon that atonement of 
Christ ; which alone can take away original and 
contracted guilt* 

And this is a duty which pious parents should 
perform, and a privilege which they may enjoy. 
They may present their infants to the Lord, not 
indeed with the sacrifice of bullocks, the pouring 
forth of costly libations of oil and wine, but with the 
sacrifice of praise and the incense of gratitude. The 
idea of thus presenting our children to God is well 
pleasing to the Saviour, who said, " Suffer them to 
come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is 
the kingdom of heaven." They were brought for 
his blessing : and cannot he bless as well now, as 
when he was upon earth ? If he encouraged pa- 
rents then, to bring their children,- will he object 
now ? Let parents remember how kindly he took 
the children up in his affectionate arms : pressed 
them to his feeling bosom, which beat with the most 
tender sensations of compassion, blessed them, and 
said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Thus 
in the Old Testament and the New, we have in- 
stances of children being presented to God for his 
blessing • and of his gracious, approbation of those 
who offered, and those who .were presented : so true 

10 



110 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

is it that "a flower when offered in the bud is no 
vain sacrifice." Though now Jesus has taken his 
station at the right hand of God, yet is he equally- 
pleased with those who bring their offspring to him, 
and will as readily accept and bless what is pre- 
sented. God beholds and admires the affection, the 
piety, the sincerity which prompts such a presenta- 
tion. Parents, by dedicating their children to God, 
give a pledge that they will bring them up for Him ; 
that they will as far as possible, by the diligent use 
of adapted means, nurse them up for glory everlast- 
ing. It i£ not necessary that they should promise 
in the name of the child what they can never per- 
form, nor give a pledge which they can never 
redeem, which, alas ! is too often inconsiderately 
done, even by those who are not supposed to feel 
any particular interest in the moral aud spiritual 
welfare of those for whom they promise so much. 
All that is required is for parents to dedicate their 
offspring, by solemn and believing prayer, to the 
God of the families of the earth, by which they lay 
themselves under an obligation to train them tip in 
the way that they should go. I can conceive of no- 
thing more gratifying than such a transaction to the 
pious and conscientious parent ; nothing which will 
afford a sweeter pleasure to a gracious and a grate- 
ful heart. It is an unalloyed satisfaction, and one 
that will afford the most pleasing sensations in the 
retrospect, during the subsequent periods of life. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. Ill 

This presentation of the child to God immediately 
after its birth, should be attended with devout and 
continued supplication. There was a pious mother, 
who had the happiness of seeing- her children in 
early life brought to the knowledge of the truth, and 
walking in the fear of the Lord. A clergyman, 
thinking that there might be something peculiar in 
the mode of giving religious instructions, which 
rendered it so effectual, visited her, and inquired 
how she discharged the duties of a mother in edu- 
cating her children. She replied, that she did not 
know that she had been more faithful in the religious 
instruction of her children than any Christian mo- 
ther would be. After a little conversation, she said, 
" I believe I never gave my children the breast 
without praying in my heart, that I might not nurse 
a child for the devil ; as I washed them I raised my 
heart to God that he would wash them in that blood 
which cleansed from all sin ; as I clothed them in 
the morning, I asked my Heavenly Father to clothe 
them with the robe of Christ's righteousness ; as I 
provided them food, I prayed that God would feed 
their souls with the bread of heaven, and give them 
to drink the water of life. When I prepared them 
for the house of God, I prayed that their bodies 
might be fit temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in ; 
when they left me for the week-day school, I fol- 
lowed their infant footsteps with a prayer, that their 
path through life might be like that of the just, which 



112 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

shineth more and more unto the perfect day ; and as 
I committed them to rest at night, the silent breathing 
of my soul has been, that their heavenly Father 
would take them to his embrace, and fold them in 
his gracious arms." Some parents have been found 
taking their children into their chambers, and there 
by prayer commending them to him who bestowed 
them, and with tears wrestling with God on their 
behalf, conscious that their tender frames contain 
within an imperishable principle ; a soul of inesti- 
mable value, which will live for ever " in raptures 
or in wo ; n at that same time recollecting that they 
are born after their own likeness of sin and depravity* 
The feelings of parents, while thus dedicating a 
child to God in prayer, are of a peculiar kind, and 
such as can only be known to pious persons. Their 
sensations sometimes are such as scarcely to be em- 
bodied in intelligible language ; but God knows how 
they agonize in soul for their beloved offspring* 

How thankful should parents be, that they are 
thus permitted, and even invited to present their 
children, and to pray for them. They might have 
been placed by providence in those dark and dreary 
regions of the earth, where feelings of cruelty are 
cherished towards an infant offspring. Look into 
India, and there you will find mothers taught by 
their religion to forget their tender and endearing 
character ; and to sacrifice the fruit of their body to 
please a stupid and inanimate idol. There may be 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 113 

at this moment, a mother throwing her first-born 
into the flaming arms of a bloody Moloch, her heart 
unmoved by its writhing anguish, and its dying 
shrieks ; or else casting it into the rapid Ganges, 
with the foolish idea of appeasing the wrath of some 
offended deity. Should you not then be thankful 
for that revelation, which teaches you to offer your 
children by prayer, to the living God and loving 
father, and not a bloody sacrifice to the embraces of 
a cruel idol— -for that revelation which teaches you 
to preserve your offspring with care, and to cherish 
toward them all the tender affections of a parent. 
Think how greatly you are elevated above thou- 
sands of your sex in distant parts and embrace the 
privilege thus allowed you of carrying your children 
to God, for his blessing. 

And how frequently should prayer be offered for 
the child. It must be a constant employment. One 
short prayer presented after the child is born, is not 
sufficient, and will be found of little avail. Children 
should be the subjects of many prayers. Parents 
must be found in the exercise of patient, believing, 
persevering intercessions for their offspring, and such 
prayers will not fail of effect : they will not, they 
cannot be lost : they may not indeed be immediately 
answered, but remember they are registered in hea- 
ven for that purpose, and will be attended to in 
God's own time and manner. Those who never, or 
but seldom address the throne of grace, on behalf of 

10* 



114 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

their children, are the most unkind of parents. How 
many blessings are lost to them through such neg- 
lect. Love to them, connected with our own interest, 
should urge us to this duty, if no other or stronger 
motive were present. Do we not best show our 
affection for our offspring, by constantly and fer- 
vently asking the largest blessings for them ; daily 
seeking " the best gifts," to be bestowed upon them, 
Worldly parents have their unceasing anxieties em- 
ployed about their children's temporal interests ; they 
spare neither pains nor expense to advance them in 
the world ; but let serious parents, who know the 
value of their children's souls, seek for them those 
substantial blessings which will make them rich in 
time, and in eternity ; and the more they love them, 
the more earnestly will they pray for them, 

And is not our own interest concerned? Our 
real happiness is inseparably linked with the weU 
fare of our dear children, as they grow up into life, 
They will prove either blessings or curses, comforts 
or crosses, according to the nature of the tempers 
they discover, or the conduct they exhibit, If then 
our prayers, poor and imperfect as they are, intrin- 
sically, avail any thing, (and we are told that the 
fervent and inwrought prayer of the righteous, avail- 
eth mudi) • if our prayei*s have an influence upcn 
them, and will in any way beneficially affect their 
situations in future life, should we not abound in 
supplications to Him, who has encouraged us to 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 115 

pray, by this delightful promise. " I will pour my 
spirit upon thy seed, and my blessings upon thy off- 
spring, and they shall spring up among the grass, 
as willows by the water courses." One shall say, 
u I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by 
the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with 
his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by 
the name of Israel." He has kindly promised to 
bless our children, but he has promised it in answer 
to sincere and believing prayer. " For all these 
things, he will be inquired of by the house of Israel 
to do it for them." How many children have had 
to bless God to all eternity for anxious tears, and 
fervent prayers of pious parents. But parents are 
not to be discouraged in this " well-doing," if they 
see not their prayers immediately answered. This 
should not be the case, there is no real ground for 
discouragement ; delays are not denials. Scripture, 
experience, and observation, prove to us, that God 
is the hearer and answerer of prayer. The judg- 
ment day — that day which will clearly develop 
all the mysteries of providence and grace — will dis- 
cover thousands of instances wherein prayers have 
been answered, when the persons who offered them 
supposed that they were entirely lost, and descended 
to the grave, making the most unjust and unkind 
deductions respecting the success and efficacy of 
the " prayer of faith," Many parents with rapturous 
feelings will meet and welcome their children in 



116 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

heaven ; those children whom they had given up 
as for ever ruined, long before they quitted this 
earthly scene. For many years they earnestly 
prayed, but at last they seemed to fail, and their 
language assumed a shade of depression, bordering 
on despair. " Also when we cry or shout, he shut- 
teth out our prayer." At such an apparent defect 
of success ; at such a thought of failure, the mother 
felt a pang more dreadful than that which she ex- 
perienced when she brought her child into the 
world. And in this state of discouragement she 
descended with sorrow to the grave. Often did the 
father also enter his chamber with a broken heart, 
occasioned by a wicked son, or dissolute daughter, 
exclaiming, " O Absalom, my son, my son ; O Ab- 
salom, my son :" a most lamentable case it seemed 
to be, for they closed their eyes upon this world, 
without witnessing any favourable result of their fer- 
vent supplications, and their pious instructions. But 
how transporting to find in another world, what 
they were not allowed to see in this ; that tears, 
prayers, and admonitions were not lost as they sup- 
posed. God heard their petitions, and granted all 
their requests ; they offered the prayer here, they 
saw the answer hereafter ; they sowed the seed in 
this world, they reap the fruit in the next. 

These observations are strikingly illustrated in an 
account given to us by a respectable clergyman of 
the Church of England. He was called to visit a 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 117 

female, who was lying upon a bed of sickness, and 
to all human appearance, closely verging upon an 
eternal world. In the early part of her life she was 
seduced from the paths of chastity and virtue, and 
until she was thirty-two years of age, she lived in a 
most abandoned state of profligacy and prostitution. 
She was, however, brought to deep conviction of her 
lost and perishing condition, and before she left this 
sinful world, gave pleasing evidence of a solid and 
gracious change of heart. That part which bears 
principally upon this subject, shall be stated in his 
own words. "With a number of quotations from the 
Bible, which represent Jesus as the Saviour and friend 
of sinners and the express purpose for which he came, 
'not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' 
I endeavoured to soothe her spirits, and I could per- 
ceive a gleam of hope brightening up her sad coun- 
tenance as I dispensed to her the divine cordials 
from the sacred promises. But how was my aston- 
ishment awakened, when proceeding from general 
promises of revealed truths, to make application to 
her particular case, by leading her into a brief view 
of the doctrine of the fall, and man's utterly lost 
state before God ; with the design of the Redeemer 
in the scheme of salvation ; she frequently antici- 
pated my account, and gave me every now and 
then proofs that she was no stranger to the great 
subjects of which I spoke. I could not help express- 
ing my surprise, how a person in her unhappy way 



118 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

of life should have been brought to the knowledge 
of these truths ; and this opened a new source of 
grief in her mind, and brought many tears from her 
eyes. Her parents she told me, had early taught 
her the principles of piety, and no doubt, had sea- 
soned their instructions with fervent prayers to God 
for his blessing upon them, but her sinful course of 
life had tempted them to fear that all was fruitless, 
and they left this world, (for as well as I can recollect, 
they had both been dead some years,) lamenting the 
inefficiency of their supplications to God for their 
graceless -child. How ought the sequel to this sin- 
ner's history, (for she died with a well-grounded. ex- 
pectation of meeting her pious parents in heaven,) 
to teach parents to pray without fainting, and never 
to restrain prayer before God. How many prayers 
offered up by believers, for their ungodly children, 
have been answered years after the humble peti- 
tioners have been gathered to their fathers, and what 
examples are there now in heaven among the re- 
deemed of the Lord, of the children of the faithful 
recovered through almighty grace, as brands from 
the burning, whose seemingly unpromising conduct 
suppressed every hope, and caused the parents to 
descend "with sorrow to the grave." Who ever had 
a more unpromising child than Hezekiah, the good 
King of Israel — profligate, idolatrous, blood-thirsty, 
a very monster in iniquity? He had been instructed, 
interceded for, prayed with, the best examples had 






OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE- 119 

been placed before him, but Manasseh continued 
wicked. Hezekiah saw no fruit from the seed which 
he had sown, his prayers seemed lost, the tears he 
wept over his abandoned child seemed shed in vain, 
and he descended to the grave, but his prayers were 
registered to be answered, but not till the offerer 
should be removed to a better world. Manasseh 
ascended the throne of his father, a wretched slave 
of his passions, a blind worshipper of idols, but God 
arrested the hardened sinner, the profligate young 
king ; and he called upon the God of his father, and 
now, through the infinite mercy of a prayer-hearing 
God, and the merits of a compassionate Saviour, 
they are together, mingling their praises before the 
throne of God and the Lamb. They have long 
since met and embraced each other, the one amazed 
at the sovereignty of divine grace, in saving such a 
notorious sinner, the other adoring the faithfulness 
and goodness of God, who suffered not his instruc- 
tions and parental intercessions eventually to be 
lost. St. Augustine was highly favoured in having 
an interest in the prayers of a pious and affectionate 
mother, whose name was Monica. To this excellent 
female, when mourning over the youthful wicked- 
ness of her son, was uttered this striking expression ; 
this prophetic intimation ; " It is not likely that a 
child of so many prayers should perish." The con- 
version and subsequent experience of this child of 
maternal solicitude, and believing supplication, show 



120 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

clearly how well grounded were the pious, praying 
mother's hopes, " that praying breath should never 
be spent in vain." It is not likely indeed ! when 
we consider the divine assurances, the potency of 
faith, and the numberless instances in which God 
has blessed the use of the means, and honoured be- 
lieving prayer. A mother's tears, a father's prayers, 
are a noble inheritance, " a worthy portion" of chil- 
dren, " better than thousands of gold and silver." 
That child is far richer who possesses an interest in 
the pious intercessions of its parents, than the one 
who is born to inherit a kingdom, if it does not en- 
joy the spiritual anxieties and religious instruction 
of a father and a mother. How successful is fervent 
and believing prayer, even though parents may 
think that they have laboured, prayed, wept, and 
agonized in vain, thinking that both prayers and 
children are lost. I will mention an instance of the 
success of a mother's prayer which I recently read, 
and with which my mind was much impressed. It 
is related by the individual who received the benefit 
of these supplications, and who is now a minister of 
the gospel. "As to my labours," says he, "to a 
spectator, I may seem to do much — to myself it ap- 
pears scarcely any thing. Ah, Sir ! you know but 
little of my obligations to almighty grace and re- 
deeming love. I look back with dismay and horror 
to the time, when I led the van in wickedness, 

" Dared to attempt the infernal gate, 
And force my passage to the flames." 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 121 

"Regardless of the prayers and tears, and groans 
of a pious mother, I rushed upon the " thick bosses 
of God's buckler," and in the worst parts of the king- 
dom of t darkness invented new schemes of wicked- 
ness, and dared the Almighty to do his worst. Even 
now my heart bleeds at the thought of the nights, 
when mad with intoxication, I have returned to my 
tender mother, between two and three o'clock, burst 
open the window, poured out a torrent of abuse, and 
sunk upon the bed a monster of iniquity. Next 
mornmg, I have been aroused at seven by a mourn- 
ful voice, smothered with heavy sobs and tears ; I 
have listened, and to my inexpressible astonish- 
ment, found it was my mother pouring out her soul 
in this language, O Lord, oh ! have mercy, mercy, 
mercy upon my poor child. Lord, I will not, cannot 
give him up. Lord, he is still my child. Surely he 
is not yet out of the reach of mercy, O Lord, hear, 
hear I beseech thee, a mother's prayers ! Spare, oh 
spare for Christ's sake the son of her old age. O Ab- 
salom my son, O Absalom, my son, my son. Yes, 
precious mother, thy prayers are now answered, and 
thy child, thy worthless, guilty child, still lives a 
monument of boundless grace, and incomprehensible 
mercy." Such was the success of a mother's inter- 
cession. I will add one more instance of answer to 
prayer on behalf of children ; an instance more re- 
markable than I ever met with. It is as follows : — 

" Captain Mitchell K was bred to the sea. 

11 



122 A COMPANION FOR T&E SEASON 

He commanded a merchant's ship that sailed from 
Philadelphia. About the year 1756 he married Miss 
D — - — , whose father resided on Indian River, near 
the Capes of Delaware. The year after his marriage 

Captain K sailed for Europe, and left his wife 

anticipating his return before her confinement. In 
sailing out at Cape Henlopen, he passed within a few 
miles of his beloved wife, then at her father's (Colo- 
nel D ,) who resided near the Cape. It after- 
wards appeared that Captain K — was an eminent 
Christian. After the ship was safe out at sea, he 
retired to his cabin, and committed to writing a 
prayer for his beloved wife and unborn infant, dic- 
tated in the most devotional frame of mind, and ex- 
pressive of the most affectionate and anxious solici- 
tude for the temporal and eternal happiness of his wife 
and unborn babe, (a son as it afterwards proved.) 
This prayer filled nearly a whole sheet of paper in a 
fine hand, dated at sea at the mouth of Indian River, 
August 23, 1757 ; and in it the writer, in a truly 
Christian and eloquent manner, supplicated the 
blessing of sanctifying grace for his wife and her 
infant. It is supposed that the paper containing the 
remarkable prayer was never seen by any person 
for upwards of fifty-six years. It was found depo- 
sited at the bottom of an old oaken chest, in which 
the books, manuscripts, sea charts, and mathema- 
tical instruments of Captain K were returned 

to his wife ; he having died in his passage to Europe. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 123 

" His wife, on opening the chest, discovered his 
instruments, papers, books, &c. which she under- 
stood nothing about, and is supposed (by her son) 
to have locked it up again without examining its 
contents. This was the information she gave her 
son, that she had opened the chest once, and satis- 
fied that it was her husband's, had it locked up for 
her son when he became a man ; and that she had 
never let any person see its contents. She married 
the second husband, and lived and died a near 
neighbour to the writer of this sketch. Her son she 
named Mitchell after his father ; she gave him a 
good education. At the age of eighteen years he 
enlisted in the regiment of Delaware Blues, and 
marched for Boston in 1775. He remained in the 
American army until the close of the war ; he was 
in the battles of Whiteplains, Germantown, and 
Monmouth, under Washington. He then went to 
the south, where he was dangerously wounded, and 
was taken prisoner on the spot, and within a few 
feet of the brave Baron de Kalb, who was murdered 
begging quarters. He was exchanged, and joined 
the army under General Green, fought at the Eu- 
taw Springs, and at Combahee Ferry, where the 
brave Colonel Laurens fell. This closed the Ame- 
rican war, and he returned to his mother's residence 
in his native state. He was now twenty-five years 
old ; but alas ! he had imbibed the disposition of the 
camp and was a libertine in principle and practice ; 



124 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

this pained her heart, but was beyond her power to 
correct. He had a good estate, his family creditable, 
and for his bravery in the field he had the warm 
affections of his acquaintance and compatriots ; but 
it was soon discovered that he was a dangerous 
associate among the youth of his neighbourhood ; 
his manners, his address, and his personal charms, 
connected with his corrupt morals, rendered him a 
dangerous visiter among the females of his neigh- 
bourhood, and he was soon expelled the society of 
the respectable part of his acquaintance. The con- 
sequence was, that he gave a loose to his appetites 
and associated with those of the baser sort, and still 
sunk lower in the vortex of dissipation ; he avoided 
the society of his poor old mother, and seldom gave 
her the opportunity of an affectionate admonition. 
Shame and guilt kept him from her presence, (as he 
acknowledged with tears to the writer of this nar- 
rative.) At length his mother was removed by death, 
and on her death-bed she gave him the key of his 
father's chest, with an injunction for him to keep 
the chest, and its contents for his father's sake and 
hers. He took the key and put it into his pocket, 
promising to comply with the request. He had the 
chest removed to his own residence (after his mo- 
ther's death,) and it was stowed away up stairs, but 
he did not open it. He stated, several years after, 
that the reason he had not opened the chest sooner 
was, that he had always been told that his father 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 125 

was a religious man. and he dreaded to examine his 
books and papers, for fear that he should meet with 
something on the subject of religion that would 
harass his feelings. He then indulged in drunken- 
ness and debauchery for several years. In 1814, 
when he was in his fifty-sixth year, he thought of 
examining his father's books and papers in the old 
chest. He had the chest brought down stairs, and 
after some time spent in the effort he succeeded in 
opening it ; the first book he opened was ' Christian 
Philosophy,' with his father's name written on the 
title page. He piled up the books, maps, charts, 
and instruments on a table, determined to see the 
whole contents. At the bottom of the chest, he dis- 
covered a paper neatly folded, and endorsed on the 
back of it 'The Prayer of Mitchell K — for bless- 
ings on his wife and child, August 23, 1757.' He 
opened it and read it over. The scene, the time, 
the place and circumstances, under which it was 
written and put there, all rushed upon his mind 
and overwhelmed him ; for often had his widowed 
mother led him to the beach and pointed to him 
the direction on the horizon, where she had traced 
the last glimpse of flowing canvass that bore his 
father from her, never to return. He tumbled the 
contents back into the chest, folded up the prayer, 
and put it in the case with his father's quad- 
rant, and laid it in the chest, and locked it up, deter- 
mined never to unlock it again during his life ; but 



126 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

his father's prayer still haunted his imagination, and 
he could not shake the subject from his memory. 
He tried various expedients, but all in vain. At 
length his distress became so violent, that his para- 
mour entreated him to tell her what caused his 
affliction. This was a dagger to his heart. He 
looked on her with wildness, and exclaimed " I can- 
not tell you." This only increased her solicitude. 
He entreated her to leave him for a while until he 
had time to recollect himself; she left the room, and 
as she passed out at the door, cast an anxious look 
back at him ; his conscience smote him, (she was 
the victim of seduction) and he instantly called her 
back, and with all the self-upbraidings that an 
awakened guilty conscience could suggest, he con- 
fessed to her the cause of his distress — His father's 
prayer found in the old chest. She thought him 
deranged, and had the neighbours sent for. This 
was unknown to him, and when one of his old 
neighbours arrived and saw his situation, he also 
believed him deranged ; but to convince his friends 
that he had just cause for distress, he unlocked the 
chest, and produced the cause of his affliction. The 
writer of this narrative has read the same prayer, 
and he is free to acknowledge that he never has read 
such a prayer in his life. From that time Mitchell 
K — became an altered man. He married her who 
had been his concubine; united himself to the 
Church of Christ ; manumitted his slaves, and lived 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 127 

and died an humble, exemplary Christian." — New 
York Observer. 

Take encouragement ye mothers from this. Look 
at the pious Hannah, the believing Monica ; the 
wrestling, agonized mother, and begin early ; perse- 
vere constantly in praying for God's blessing upon 
your dear children ; this is the way for them to rise 
up and bless you, and " praise you in the gate." 

The obligation of those to whom the Lord has 
given children to pray for them, extends not merely 
to their state of infancy, but is to be continued as 
they grow up into life. You are "not to cease to 
pray for them." For these you must travail in birth 
again and again, till Christ be formed in them. If 
there should be a numerous family, each one will 
share in your intercessory petitions. As you wish 
not " a hoof to be left behind," — as you are anxious 
that all should become the Lord's, you will not cease 
to pray for them individually. We read of a man 
whose name was Job, who sanctified his children, 
that is, set them apart for God and his glory. " He 
rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt of- 
ferings, according to the number of them all." So 
will all pious and considerate parents bear each one 
of their children in the arms of their affection, and 
continually offer it, and offer for it. The same sense 
of obligation which urges the first prayer to be pre- 
sented for the child to the Lord, will exist so long as 
they continue in a world of sin and suffering. What 



128 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

a benefit is this to your offspring. An ungodly child 
has sometimes overheard a father or mother while 
wrestling earnestly for his salvation, and what an 
effect has been produced. A circumstance like this 
is calculated to affect the mind, and lead to some 
serious reflections. The heart must be hard indeed 
that does not move when the individual is listening 
to the agonizing intercessions of an affectionate pa- 
rent. Would not such thoughts as these be suggest- 
ed. " How anxiously do they pray that I may be 
saved. What sobs and sighs on my account ! Why 
should I occasion them such anxiety. I love them, 
and they love me ; doubtless it is their love to me 
that induces them thus to pray for me. I am sure, 
I would not give them unnecessarily a moment's 
uneasiness. They pray for me, that I may pray for 
myself, and so I will ; I will now remember my 
Creator in the days of my youth, and give my pa- 
rents joy and satisfaction ; they shall no longer be 
wretched on my account. 

And it is not only desirable that we should pray 
for, but with our children. Let them as well as God 
hear how anxiously and ardently we intercede for 
them, how greatly we long for them all in the bowels 
of Jesus Christ. After the tender mother has wept 
over her child, spoken to it of the importance of an 
early acquaintance with the blessed Redeemer, should 
an impression be left, how will it be strengthened by 
bending the knee with it and commending it to 






OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 129 

Jesus the friend of the young ; and here I would in- 
troduce an example of this in a pious mother, the 
late Mrs. Berry, of Warminster. It is said her Sab- 
bath evenings were employed in reading the scrip- 
tures and holding familiar dialogues with her three 
children. After hearing them repeat a short prayer, 
and one of Watts's little hymns for children, she seated 
them each in a separate chair, while with maternal 
simplicity and endearment, she heard and answered 
their questions and proposed her own. Dismissing 
the two youngest to rest ; the eldest being now six 
years old, was retained up a little longer. With 
him it was her constant Sabbath evening custom to 
kneel and pray. She would begin with prayer for 
his father, who, at that moment was preaching to 
his people, then she would pray for her children one 
by one. After mentioning their names, she either 
implored forgiveness for foibles, or expressed her 
gratitude that the great God had made them such 
good children. Taking this boy one day into the 
parlour, where she usually performed these exercises, 
his father asked him if his dear mother did not some- 
times kneel with him and pray. With eyes in- 
stantly filled with tears, the little disciple artlessly 
replied, mother used to kneel at that chair, and hold 
my hands and pray for father that he might do goodj 
and for me, and Henry, and little Mary, and for all 
of us. I think, said this affectionate mother, about a 
fortnight before her death, I think in looking back 



130 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

upon all these seasons, my sweetest exercises were 
with my dear boy on the Sabbath evenings ; the 
house was still, my babes were in bed, my husband 
was labouring for God in the sanctuary, every thing 
aided and inspired devotion. I think my dear boy 
will never forget some of those seasons any more 
than myself, O my happy seasons, with my infant 
son." How interesting such a method ! how adapted 
to impress the infant mind ! O were there more such 
mothers in Israel ! What a benefit to the rising 
generation ! You who have children imitate this 
lovely example. 

And let the subject of your prayers relate princi- 
pally to the spiritual interests of your children. 
Pray that Christ may be theirs, and all other things 
will be added unto them. Should God answer your 
prayers, by giving to them that " unspeakable gift," 
" with him he will also freely give them all things." 
Seekest thou great things for thyself," or thy children 
" seek them not." After these things do worldly- 
minded Gentiles seek. il Seek the good things of 
God's kingdom, rather than the great things of God's 
providence. In all your blessings of them, (as in 
the blessings of Jacob,) let the dew of heaven be put 
before the fatness of the earth, and let the blessings 
of the nether spring be still postponed to those of the 
upper. If God give grace as the pledge of glory, 
" no good thing will he withhold from them." A 
parent is placed in a most responsible situation. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 131 

Children are given to them that they may be brought 
up in the fear, nurture, and admonition of the Lord." 
To the bestowment of each of these gifts is added 
an injunction similar to that which Pharoah's 
daughter gave to the mother of Moses. " Take this 
child and nurse it for me? " Train it up in the 
way that it should go." 

The obligations of parents, in reference to their 
children, do not terminate in praying for them; 
their offspring like tender plants, require not only 
the genial influences of heaven, such as the dew, the 
sun, and the rain, but careful cultivation, and con- 
stant superintendence ; children require moral and 
intellectual culture ; their principles naturally ob- 
lique, their dispositions naturally deformed, must 
like young branches be early trained and bent, or 
they will be neither useful nor lovely. And this 
training should commence at a very early age, be- 
fore the habits are formed : before the dispositions 
are set and confirmed by custom. This moral and 
mental culture may be applied to the early stage of 
childhood. Many parents, by neglecting this im- 
portant process too long, increase the subsequent 
labour a hundred fold. There cannot, I think, be 
too much importance attached to the formation of 
the habits of children. The effects of attention or 
neglect demonstrate the necessity of the mind being 
diligently cultivated. There certainly is a differ- 
ence in the natural tempers and capacities of child- 



132 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

ren. Some are naturally more perverse and stupid 
than others ; but that is often attributed to nature, 
which is the result of parental neglect or misma- 
nagement. The worst disposition, and the dullest 
intellect, with the diligent application of proper 
means, will, in time, be equal to the best natural 
temper and capacity if left without cultivation. A 
piece of bad land, well tilled, will be as productive 
as the best piece upon the farm, if neglected. — 
" Folly is bound up in the heart of a child ;" if left 
to itself it is soon overrun with noxious weeds, 
which grow with the child's growth, and strengthen 
with its strength. These must be rooted out, 
checked in their growth, and the sooner the imple- 
ments of cultivation are used, the more easily are 
poisonous plants eradicated, and beneficial ones 
raised. A judicious system of restraints and encou- 
ragements will operate more extensively, benefi- 
cially, and successfully, than many parents are 
aware of; I say, a judicious system of restraints 
and encouragements. Too great a severity in the 
former, and too great indulgence in the latter, will 
prove injurious ; the result in the one case will be 
as injurious as in the other. These tender plants 
should not be nipped by the sharp frost of severity, 
nor withered by the hot sun of indulgence. It was 
a serious charge brought against Eli, that " his sons 
made themselves vile, and he restrained them not f 
he exercised not that parental authority over them 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 133 

with which he was invested ; and the consequences 
were very lamentable, both to the father and the 
sons. 

Information should very early be imparted to the 
mind, adapted to the capacity : ideas should be com- 
municated gradually in a manner the most en- 
gaging — in a style the most simple. A method 
should be selected suited to an infant's years. The 
pious M. Henry has the following excellent observa- 
tions on the subject of early education : — " Thou 
shalt teach them diligently, that is, whet it upon 
them. (Heb.) In whetting you turn the thing whet- 
ted on this side and on that side, and often repeat 
the strokes ; so in teaching of children, the mind is 
aifected not by the violence but by the frequency of 
the impression. The minds of children, like narrow- 
necked bottles, must be filled slowly, drop by drop. 
The young must be driven with patience as they 
can go ; (alluding to Gen. xxxiiL 14.) special care 
must be taken to make things plain unto them, con- 
descending to their capacities, and lisping to them 
in their own language ; conveying instruction by 
sensible, or otherwise affecting objects, and making 
it as much as can be not a task or burden, but easy 
and pleasant. Children are half taught when they 
are reconciled to instruction." 

That it is as much the duty of parents to instruct 
their children as to pray for them is easily seen, and 
generally admitted. How express and specific was 
12 



134 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

the direction given to the people of God of old upon 
this subject : — " And these words which I command 
thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt 
teach them diligently to thy children, and shall talk 
of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, 
and when thou risest up, and thou shalt write them 
upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates." 
Deut. vi. 7, 8. This communication of religious 
knowledge is well recommended in the 78th Psalm, 
— " Give ear, O my people, to my law ; incline your 
ears to the words of my mouth ; I will open my 
mouth in a parable ; I will utter dark sayings of old, 
which we have heard and known, and which our 
fathers have told us. We will not hide them from 
their children, showing to. the generations to come 
the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his 
wonderful works which he hath done. For he esta- 
blished a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in 
Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they 
should make them known unto their children, that 
the generation to come might know them, even the 
children which should be born, who should rise up 
and declare them to their children, that they might 
set their hope in God." &c. " For I Know Abraham," 
says God, " that he will command his children and 
his household after him, and they shall keep the way 
of the Lord." (Gen. xviii. 19.) Timothy was blessed 
with a pious mother and grandmother who instruct- 






OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 135 

ed him, and thus he knew the Holy Scriptures from 
a child, which were able to make him wise unto sal- 
vation. Why has God in mercy spared the life of 
the parent, and bestowed the gift of a child 1 Is it 
not that the gift may be diligently improved and 
cultivated ; that the child may be for the service of 
God : that it may rise up and call him blessed ; that 
it may be a " seed to serve him in its day and gene- 
ration f and how is it to rise up and bless and serve 
the Lord, unless it be taught to know God and un- 
derstand its duty to him. Prayer and instruction 
must be combined, the former without the latter is 
presumption ; the latter without the former is vain 
and foolish. You must in this as well as every thing 
connected with human affairs and the divine life, 
pray as well as act, perform as well as pray. You 
beg of God that he would bless your children ; that 
they may know the Lord betimes. God has pro- 
mised that he will bless them. But he says, " Do 
you instruct them — teach them the fear of the Lord, 
and I will succeed your endeavours. If you use the 
means, I will bless the means." You have by fer- 
vent prayer dedicated your children to God, and did 
you not give them to Him. that they might be 
brought up for him. Was not this the pledge you 
gave, and must it not be carefully redeemed ? Those 
prayers are at best but hypocritical — that dedication 
most insincere, which is not followed by the adop- 
tion of those plans of religious instruction which 



136 A COMPANION FOR "THE SEASON 

will, through the good spirit of God, lead the minds 
and hearts of your children to God — to thoughts 
and affections of a spiritual nature. You must dili- 
gently and dependentiy instruct them in the noblest 
truths of Revelation ; you profess to be grateful for 
the life which God has spared, and the life which 
God has given. Now the best way to show your 
sense of obligation, is to pray for your children — to 
present them to God — to instruct them, and to en- 
deavour to train them up to a blissful immortality. 
O what a delightful proof would parents give, both 
of their thankfulness to God, and love to their chil- 
dren, if they paid more attention to the spiritual 
interests of those committed to their charge. 

The principal anxiety of some parents, and the 
only concern of many others, is to provide for the 
temporal comfort of their offspring, while their 
minds, their morals, and their manners are equally 
and shamefully overlooked. To observe the gene- 
rality of parents, we should be ready to conclude 
that the " world without souls" was no fiction, but a 
solemn fact. Witnessing the conduct of some, we 
should suppose that man was exclusively animal, 
and possessed no living — no immortal principle — no 
reason or conscience. Children are not taught by 
them that they have souls that will never die, (this 
they are left to find out themselves in some other 
way,) and parents seem to forget that they have ; at 
any rate we should be disposed to think, that the 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 137 

sensitive was of infinitely more importance than the 
spiritual existence. The maxim of these persons is, 
let our children have plenty to eat and to drink ; 
good clothes to wear : sufficient money in their 
pockets, and a good estate when they come of age ; 
and every thing else is of secondary consideration. 

To provide for the temporal comfort and happi- 
ness of children is a duty that was never questioned; 
it is sanctioned by the highest authority ; " for if a 
man," says the Apostle, (writing under the influence 
of the divine inspiration) " provide not for his own 
household, he has denied the faith and is worse than 
an infidel." Not to do this would make us lower 
than the brutes ; but, only .to do this, would not 
raise us one jot above them in the scale of being, 
for do not they even the same. Ye worldly-minded 
parents, what do ye more than they? Instinct leads 
the beast and the bird to take care of their young ; 
how diligently will they provide food for them ; 
how anxiously watch over them, and protect them 
against dangers and adversaries; and some will 
even lose their lives in their defence, and feed them 
with their own blood. But human parents, and 
especially Christian parents, should be actuated by 
principle, by reason, by enlightened affection, by a 
regard to the future and everlasting welfare of their 
children, as well as their present happiness. What 
folly to provide for the body, which cannot live 
many years, and may not live many days, while 
12* 



138 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

they care nothing about the soul, which must 
endure through eternity. To love our children 
then only as the brutes love their young, is degrad- 
ing to beings endowed with reason, with intellect, 
with souls destined to immortality, and with reve- 
lation to enlighten the future and guide the present. 
And yet there are many who not only claim the 
title of rational creatures, but even the more sacred 
name of Christian people, who are chargeable with 
this awful neglect of their offspring. Many pro- 
fessors of the religion of Jesus are implicated in this 
solemn charge. They have indeed an excellent 
creed ; they will not dare to deny the responsibility 
and moral obligation of man ; they profess to believe 
that their children have souls, and that these souls 
will be saved or lost for ever ; that God must 
change their nature to make them fit for glory ; and 
yet admitting these important truths into their sys- 
tem of belief, they neglect the very means which 
God has either promised or commended for the 
promotion of the spiritual welfare of their children. 
And, perhaps, there may be some who are alive to 
the importance of these things, who are neverthe- 
less liable to relax; who are insensibly betrayed 
into too great a neglect in praying for, and instruct- 
ing their rising family; and indeed the efforts of 
the most conscientious, diligent, and spiritual Chris- 
tian bear not a sufficient proportion to the demands 
of the spiritual circumstances of their children. In 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 139 

their own minds there is a conviction that they 
have not been sufficiently often upon their knees; 
that every opportunity of instruction has not been 
embraced, or not improved in the best manner that 
it might have been. Let those who are conscious 
of neglect upon this solemn subject, suffer the word 
of exhortation from one who is himself a parent, 
and who is, with others, implicated in the above 
charge. Let them, if they have become remiss in 
this duty, be stirred up afresh to lay hold upon God. 
Let them retire from the busy scenes of life — the 
distracting cares of domestic engagements, to the 
stillness of the closet ; let them lay these considera- 
tions deeply to their hearts — ponder the matter well 
in their souls. Let them endeavour to feel a 
deeper interest in the state of their children's souls 
— bring them expressly before the mercy-seat — 
and be more diligent in teaching them to lisp 
and love the name of Jesus. Let them remem- 
ber that the souls of their children are com- 
■mitted to them, and they will be required at their 
hands another day. Let them use all the means, 
relying confidently upon the divine and promised 
blessing, and then when they are required they will 
doubtless say, with pleasure, "Behold, I and the 
children whom thou hast given me." 

As there is as much obligation to teach as to pray 
for our children, so also is there as much encourage- 
ment. Independently of the rich satisfaction arising 



140 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

from this employment, and the great pleasure which 
will be afforded in the retrospect, there is every 
thing in a correct view of the subject to animate the 
soul to exertion. We might suggest the blessing of 
God which is promised, and which has attended the 
use of these means. The religious instruction of 
parents is like the scattering of precious seed into 
the ground : " In the morning they sow their seed, 
and in the evening they withhold not their hand, 
They go forth (though sometimes weeping) bearing 
precious seed, and shall doubtless return again, 
bringing their sheaves with them." Parents sow 
in hope as well as tears. The seed thus sown, in 
hope of its springing up, is well watered with the 
hallowed tears of parental anxiety. Alternate hopes 
and fears occupy their bosoms. They have seen 
some pleasing, promising blossoms which have not 
kindly set in fruit. Expectation seems sometimes 
blighted. In youth they have seen the seed shooting 
lip into the blade, and then all at once checked in its 
progress, presenting a fading and sickly hue. Some, 
unkindly blight has fallen ; some unfriendly influ- 
ence has interrupted its growth, if not destroyed its 
vitality, and they are ready to cry out, in the disap- 
pointment of their hearts, " Our hope is lost, we are 
cut off for our parts." But how many instances we 
have of that seed which was sown in the soul of the 
youthful heart lying buried for years under the clods 
of corruption, and yet maintaining its existence, and 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 141 

showing itself in fruit, produced even in old age. 
Impressions received under the parental roof, and 
which seemed, for a time, to be effaced by deeper 
impressions of an unfavourable kind, have been re- 
vived by providential circumstances with vividness 
equal, and, in some instances, greater than when 
first received. A youth who has been a domestic in 
a pious family, who has enjoyed the rich and incal- 
culable advantages of a pious education, however he 
may be led astray by evil propensities, by corrupt 
example, or profligate associates, will, some time or 
other, be reminded of those interesting and affecting 
scenes of his childhood, when he was dandled upon 
the parental knee, and his infant heart taught to feel 
some desire after the God of his father. Some time 
or other, he will have brought to his recollection a 
beloved mother, bathed in tears ; he will fancy he 
sees, as once he saw, the hands of a father, lifted up 
in the attitude of prayer to God, for his blessing upon 
him : the very accents of his supplicating voice will 
again sound in his ears. He will remember those 
interesting moments in which, while his parents 
spake to him of the love of a Saviour, in giving his 
life a ransom for sinners ; for the youngest as well 
as others, of the necessity of an interest in His blood 
for pardon ; of the encouragement which children 
have to seek Jesus, who has said " I love them that 
love me, and those who seek me early shall find me ;" 
he will remember, while these things were said unto 



142 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

him, how his little heart melted, how he felt the bud- 
dings of pious desire, and was disposed to say, " Bless 
me — even me — O my Father." 

In the maturer periods of life, persons have been 
known to call to mind, or rather to have brought to 
their recollections by the Divine Spirit, hymns 
which their mothers taught them ; prayers which 
their father presented for them ; admonitions ad- 
dressed to them ; and passages of scripture commit- 
ted to memory. Impressions arising from these 
circumstances have been revived and deepened, and 
become actuating principles, while the heart, which 
first dictated the instruction, and the tongue that 
taught them, lay silent in the grave. And should 
these pious instructions not always issue in the con- 
version of the soul, I believe they are never without 
some good effect ; the least effect will be so valuable 
as amply to repay the anxiety and trouble. The 
yoke of a religious education must check, in some 
measure, the impetuosity of the youthful passions. 
It has imposed restraints upon the commission of 
outward sins at least. Persons who have beem 
brought up under the inspection and instruction of 
godly parents cannot sin so cheaply, or so freely as 
others. It is rarely that they can go to such lengths 
in impiety as those who have been destitute of these 
advantages ; and if parental advice and admonition, 
have a tendency only to rectify the moral conduct, 
to preserve our youth from the more flagrant vice? 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 143 

to which the young are exposed, such a result must 
be considered a great blessing. And should parents 
despise the smaller advantage because they possess 
not the greater ? If their prayers, remonstrances, 
and faithful instructions have not issued at present 
in their decided piety and devotedness to God, and 
his cause, shall not they be thankful that they have 
tended, through the blessing of God, to make them 
honest, sober, industrious, dutiful, benevolent, and 
at least not opposed to the duties and ordinances of 
religion ? And " who can tell" what the final issue 
may be ? what you now see may be only the blade 
or the blossom. " Despise not the day of small 
things." " God will increase you more and more, 
you and your children" in every thing valuable and 
desirable. You have sown, and still are sowing 
the precious seed, and are watering it with tears ; 
your heart aspires with fervent emotion for the 
blessing of God, remembering that it is yours to 
sow, but God's to give the increase. Let this then 
encourage you, that the Lord has said, " in due sea- 
son ye shall reap if ye faint not." 

But not only should means of a private and so- 
cial kind be attended to, children should early be 
brought into the sanctuary of God, to engage in 
acts of public worship. Let them be early planted 
in the house of the Lord, that they may flourish in 
the courts of the Lord. This was the practice of 
the saints of old ; they thought it their highest ho- 



144 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

nour to introduce to the service of the Lord the 
'•'fruit of their bodies." As children are only so 
many parts of ourselves, we should avail ourselves 
of the permission and privilege of bringing them to 
Jesus ; let them be given to the Lord in secret ; be 
brought to the family altar, and be conducted to the 
house of God, and be initiated early into the wor- 
ship of God ; from this old-fashioned custom there 
can be no dissenters from principle, though too 
many are so in practice. The young should be 
taught to say " Thou art my God, early will I seek 
thee ;" thou art my God, and I will praise thee ; my 
father's God, and I will exalt thee. Their minds, 
as far as possible, should be brought to reverence 
the service of God, and worship at his feet. 

The father of Hannibal, the noted Carthagenian, 
took him, while a child, to the altar of the gods, and 
obliged him to take an oath that he never would be 
in friendship with the Romans, nor desist from op- 
posing their power, until he or they should be no 
more ; how well he attended to this early protesta- 
tion was seen in the sequel ; and let us learn from a 
heathen a lesson applicable to infinitely higher sub- 
jects. We are the sworn enemies of the powers of 
darkness, and we wish our children to be so too ; let 
us therefore bring them into the temple, and excite 
in their minds an avowed enmity and hostility to the 
enemies of Jesus and his church. Samuel, and Ti- 
mothy, beside many others, were thus early brought. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 145 

to the sanctuary, devoted to the service of God, and 
engaged in active worship. Great care should be 
taken, as children grow up into life, that they regu- 
larly attend public worship ; and that they attend 
with their parents. The shameful indifference 
shown towards the worship of God in adults, is much 
to be attributed to the want of regularity, while under 
the parental roof. When children and young people 
are allowed to go to a place of worship only when 
they like, and where they like, it is sure to affect 
their habits when removed from the immediate ob- 
servation and authority of their parents. If when 
minors, under tutors and parents or governors, they 
are permitted to go where curiosity and fancy dic- 
tate ; when they become men and women, (in many 
cases at least) they will feel a perpetually vacillating 
and unsettled disposition ; they will not attend any 
one place of worship long together ; the least novelty 
is sufficient to operate upon them to leave one place 
and go to another. Such a laxity of early discipline 
engenders a spirit of dissatisfaction with every thing 
and every body. Young children should be required 
to attend the same place with their parents or guar- 
dians, where practicable, who will then have an op- 
portunity of personally watching and regulating 
their behaviour in a place of worship. In this mat- 
ter they ought not to be left to themselves, for it is a 
circumstance which will have an important bearing 
upon their future religious habits. The instability 

13 



146 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

which many persons discover as they pass from 
childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, 
while it is an impeachment of the wisdom and pru- 
dence of parents, is likewise an injury to the chil- 
dren themselves, and to the Church of Christ. " It 
is a great, evil under the sun." " As a bird wander- 
eth from her nest, so is he that wandereth from his 
place." Parents are not sufficiently aware of the 
nature and extent of this evil, nor how much they, 
though unconsciously, are accessaries to it. I have 
generally found where youth are regularly brought 
to the same place of worship, if afterwards, when 
capable of judging for themselves in religious mat- 
ters, they have seen cause to alter their sentiments, 
that wherever they fix they are firm, and do not 
" gad about to change their way." And let parents 
who profess godliness, be regular themselves. Let 
them have a place, and keep it. If children are 
accustomed to see those to whom they look up, un- 
settled ; attending one place in the morning, another 
place in the afternoon, and a third in the evening, 
they must not be surprised if the example is followed, 
and that perhaps to an extent which they neither 
expected nor wished. Jesus found the children in 
the temple, crying Hosannah ; let him find yours 
there, and let him find you with them. Never be 
found imitating the censurable practice of some who 
are irregular in their attendance upon the means of 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 147 

grace themselves, and suffer their children to " do 
likewise." 

But,- however important it is for parents to pray 
for their children, and to instruct them, much of 
the effect will be lost without a corresponding- 
example. It is necessary to walk before our house 
with a perfect heart. It is the duty of parents to 
keep evil examples from their children, and to keep 
their children from evil examples. It is a dan- 
gerous experiment adopted by some, to show them 
every species of vice, in order that they may detest 
it : it is better for them not to see wicked examples. 
At home, let them have good examples to imitate • 
from home, preserve them from evil ones to follow. 
How many most admirable instructions have failed ; 
how many prayers have been hindered, for the want 
of circumspection in the heads of families. If you tell 
them to be meek, and they see you irritable and pas- 
sionate ; if you inculcate upon them the importance 
of forgiveness, faithfulness to promises, a strict ad- 
herence to truth, humility and condescension, and 
they behold you revengeful, false to your word, 
proud, addicted to evasion and equivocation, you 
destroy eyery favourable impression. All respect 
for religious truth is lost, and you may as well 
leave off praying with them, and preaching to them, 
unless you exercise a greater watchfulness over 
your tempers, your conversation, and your conduct. 
Children will more readily imitate what you do, 



148 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

than practise what you say ; and it would be a great 
deal better for your children, if you were to say no- 
thing and act consistently, than to talk a great deal, 
and set them an indifferent example. Children 
will adopt your expressions, show your improper 
tempers, act over your conduct, as far as they have 
opportunity. The discovery of one improper feel- 
ing — the utterance of one improper speech — the 
exhibition of one improper action, will hinder a 
hundred prayers, and render inefficient many an 
excellent lesson of piety. Children make better 
use of their eyes and ears than they do of their 
understanding and reason ; they are more accus- 
tomed to act than, to think; they do not set them- 
selves to argue upon given principles or abstract 
moral precepts : what they see they do— what they 
hear they speak ; then how important in domestic 
life is strict and undeviating circumspection, lest a 
painful counteraction should be given to the best 
of prayers and instructions. A good example will 
clench the nail which education drives. It will 
strengthen the impressions which may be made 
upon the juvenile mind, and render the youthful 
heart in love with truth. Inconsistent example in 
those who profess better things, if it do not make 
children infidels as they grow up, will at least 
lower their reverence for religion ; while the con- 
trary will constitute a most unanswerable argu- 
ment in favour of genuine Christianity. A young 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 149 

man, in the account he gave at his ordination for 
the Christian ministry, of the dealings of God to 
him, referred to a period in his life, when he had 
nearly been betrayed into the principles of infidelity, 
but when assailed by some sceptical reasonings, he 
added, " There was one argument in favour of 
revealed religion which I never could get the better 
of, the consistent Christian conduct of my own 
fathers 

It is, indeed, an important thing, though difficult, 
thus to discharge the duties and obligations which 
thus devolve upon those to whom the Lord has been 
gracious, in safely delivering them from danger, and 
in giving them children, which are an " heritage 
from the Lord f and not only upon those, but upon 
the husband also, who is equally interested in these 
observations. To pray earnestly, to instruct dili- 
gently, and to walk uprightly — say not "who is 
sufficient for these things ;" while the voice of Jesus 
says, " My grace is sufficient for thee." Strength, O 
anxious mother ! was given thee sufficient for thy day 
of distress, and shall it not be given thee equal to the 
discharge of duty? Think of the importance of the 
charge committed to thy care, in connexion with the 
divine promise, to guide and assist thee ; and this 
will urge thee to diligence, and sustain thee in diffi- 
culty. Remember " the promise is to you and to 
your children ;" and that the God of thy fathers 
will be the God of thy seed. 
13 



150 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

But parents also require to be reminded with re- 
gard to their affections towards their children ; not 
tenderly to love them is unnatural — to love them 
too much is sinful. The former makes a monster, 
for " can a woman forget her sucking child, that she 
should not have compassion upon the son of her 
womb :" the latter makes an idolater ; for we take 
that which belongs to God, and give it to our chil- 
dren. We " love the creature more than the Crea- 
tor," which is the very essence of idolatry. Children 
are given to be admired, not adored — to be loved, 
not idolized : the way to lose children very soon, is 
to love them too much. The more we wish to keep 
them, the more likely are they to go ; for God who 
is jealous of his honours and prerogatives, will not 
suffer an infant of days to usurp the place of the 
Father of Eternity, He will not suffer the highest 
angel to rival him, much less a feeble babe. It is 
not showing either our gratitude or our grace to ask 
a child of God — to receive it at his hands, and then 
immediately to put it in his place, Children are 
precious gifts and pretty things, but they are not to 
be gods and goddesses. We are apt to suffer these 
little pieces of animated dust to draw away our a£ 
feptions too much. Ere we are aware we And them 
creeping into our soul's recesses — occupying our 
principal solicitudes — engaging our supreme love. 
They cling closely to us— they rapidly, though in- 
sensibly, entwine themselves around our hearts, as 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 161 

closely and tenaciously as the ivy round the oak. 
Now it is our duty and our interest to guard our 
hearts in this matter. It is our duty, for God requires 
us to love Him with all our hearts, and all our souls, 
and all our strength ; to love Him supremely, and the 
creature subordinately. He is to have the throne ; 
children the footstool of our hearts. It is our interest, 
for by attaching them too closely to us, we make 
sad work at parting, whenever the separation takes 
place. Nothing should be loved very much, which 
cannot be held very long. What we may lose in a 
moment, we should hold lightly. To love children 
too little, injures them ; to love them too much, in- 
sults God ; but parents have often had more sorrow 
in loving them too much than too little — both are 
improper — both are extremes to be carefully avoided 
— they are both sinful, and will some time or other 
make the heart uneasy. " Little children keep your- 
selves from idols," and remember the greatest idols 
are little chidren. While then we love our offspring 
sincerely, let us love them moderately, for they are 
valuable gifts, but uncertain blessings. We are lia- 
ble to be taken from them, or they from us, every 
moment ; let us, therefore, use these blessings, not 
abuse them, lest God in righteous indignation should 
come and take them away, " in an hour which we 
think not of;" and then shall we feel disappointment 
and sorrow in exact proportion to the excess of at- 
tachment we cherished for them, and the brightness 



152 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

of hope we indulged respecting them. Let our 
moderation therefore be known unto all. 

Such are the duties and obligations, at least some 
of the most important ones, connected with one of 
the most interesting circumstances in domestic life.* 
Let parents lay them to heart ; let them act up to 
them; they will find the advantage themselves; 
and their dear children will participate in the bene- 
fit of reducing these hints to practice. The sweet- 
est peace of mind will be felt in the review, and 
increasing pleasure in witnessing the growing com- 
fort and piety of their offspring. 



PRAYERS. 

PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING ON RECOVERY. 

Dearest Lord, behold thy handmaid prostrate be- 
fore thy throne of mercy. I acknowledge thee as 
the kindest and best of beings. Thou hast appeared 
for me when dangers and death hovered around, 
and didst deliver my body and soul from death, so 
that I now " walk before thee in the land of the liv- 
ing." How can a feeble worm, loaded with such a 
multitude of tender mercies, and thereby laid under 

* The design of the writer of these pages, was not to give a 
full and connected view of the duties of parents, or the nature 
of a religious education ; but merely to suggest a few important 
hints more immediately connected with the circumstances of 
those who have experienced the mercy of God in the perilous 
hour of childbirth. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 153 

such immense obligations, give suitable expression 
to the devout and grateful feelings of her heart ? 
Thou who searchest the heart, knowest that I feel 
more than I can utter. A seraph's tongue could not 
tell all that I mean. " Thou hast showed me great 
and sore troubles, but hast quickened me again, and 
brought me again from the depths of the earth." I 
cried unto thee, and thou hast heard me ; I waited 
patiently for thee, O Lord, and thou didst incline 
unto me, and heard my cry. Thou broughtest me 
up also out of a horrible pit, and out of the miry 
clay, thou didst set my feet upon a rock, and esta- 
blish my goings. Thou hast put a new song into 
my mouth, even praise unto my God." Lord I am 
thine, and this recent instance of thy loving kind- 
ness has added much to the obligations I was under 
before, for thy numerous mercies. Now I am dou- 
bly thine, and the gratitude that I feel, which is 
more than I can express, is perfect coldness com- 
pared to what I ought to experience, and bears a 
lamentable disproportion to the benefit done unto 
me. O Lord, I beseech thee, let nothing arise to 
lessen the sense of gratitude which does exist, how- 
ever inadequate to the mercies received. Let no- 
thing damp the flame which burns upon the inward 
altar of my heart. Thy great mercies, O thou won- 
derful deliverer, require that I should live to thee 
and upon thee all the days of my life. And O grant 
that my future days may exhibit one continued ex- 



154 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

pression of grateful praise, and thankful remem- 
brance. And O thou compassionate and tender 
Father, if in the endurance of the trial from which 
thou hast so kindly delivered me, I have discovered 
too much weakness of faith— too strong a feeling of 
impatience— too great a want of resignation, do 
thou mercifully forgive me ; for thou knowest the 
weakness of my mental and spiritual frame, and 
rememberest that my body is but fragile dust. And 
grant that thy recent mercy to thy handmaid may 
have a tendency to repress all misgivings of heart 
in time to come, through whatever trials and diffi- 
culties I may be called by thy wise providence to 
pass — and lead to a stronger affiance in the pro- 
mises of thy word. O may I ever " endure as see- 
ing him by the eye of faith, who is invisible" to the 
natural sight. Grant that I may be ever devoted to 
thy fear, for thine 1 am, and thee I desire only to 
serve. These prayers and praises I humbly present 
to thee through the mediation of Him in whom I 
desire ever to be found, and through whose precious 
blood and righteousness I hope for pardon and ac- 
ceptance, and who with thyself and Spirit is worthy 
of present and eternal praises. Amen. 

Prayer for the child when 'presenting it to God. 

O Lord God of Abraham, who didst enter into 
covenant with thy servant, and didst promise to be 
a God to him, and to his children after him, through- 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 155 

out all generations, behold with an eye of love and 
compassion those who now bow before thy presence. 
Some of thy servants thou hast set apart from their 
mother's womb ; thou hast heard the prayers which 
have been offered by parents for their infant seed, 
and lovest to be called the God of their children. In 
thy good providence thou hast added a member to 
the household of thy servants. " O that Ishmael may 
live before thee." The fruit of our body we present 
to thee, not as a sacrifice for the sin of our soul, but 
that thou mayst deign kindly to notice and bless it. 
Accept it as thine own ; adopt it into thy family, 
number it among thy precious jewels. O may " it 
grow up before thee as a tender plant, as a willow 
by the water courses." Be thou the protector of its 
helpless infancy, and should its existence be length- 
ened out to many years, may it, through thy grace, 
prove a comfort to its earthly parents — a follower of 
the meek and lowly Jesus — a blessing to the Church 
and the world. With deep humility we acknowledge 
that we have given it a sinful nature — with humble 
confidence we pray that thou wouldst give it a holy 
one. As we have given it a being in a world of sin 
and sorrow, do thou give it at last an eternal exist- 
ence in a world of purity and bliss. We ask not in 
its behalf a large portion in this life ; we supplicate 
noneof its riches, its, honours, or its titles : but rather 
do we wish " it may be a plant of righteousness of 
thine oavii right-hand planting ;" that the depravity of 



156 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

its nature may be removed ; that its heart may be 
renewed by the influence of the sacred Spirit ; and 
that as it has borne the image of the eartlily, it may 
also bear the image of the heavenly. O Lord God, 
who despiseth not the anxious tear, to whose atten- 
tive ear a sigh or a groan is as delightful and accept- 
able as the melody of an angel's song, condescend to 
notice and to preserve the tears which an affection- 
ate mother sheds over a beloved child ; and to hear 
the fervent supplications which a tender father pre- 
sents at thy throne of grace on its account. Dear 
Lord, we give this child to thee, make it thine, and 
keep it thine ; and may it " be thine in the day when 
thou makest up thy jewels ; then mercifully spare it 
as a man spareth his son that serveth him." " We 
pray not that thou wouldst take it ' out of the world, 
but keep' it ' from all its evils.' " If it be thy will, 
spare its life, and preserve its health : but still, know- 
ing its frailty, may we hold it with a loose hand, 
that whenever thou shalt call for it, we may, without 
murmuring, resign it to thee, who in mercy didst 
bestow it. Bless all our other beloved children, (or 
child,) may they (or it) be adopted into thy family ; 
and finally, with thy servants, enjoy a happy meet- 
ing in the realms of glory, and spend an eternity 
in thy blissful presence. Grant this, we beseech 
thee, for the sake of Him who himself, in the days 
of his flesh, took up little children in his arms, and 
blessed them, and who is worthy with thyself and 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 167 

the Holy Spirit to receive all the power and glory. 
Amen. 

Prayer for Help in the Discharge of Duty. 

Almighty and merciful Jehovah, " thou art full of 
compassion, thy tender mercies are over all thy 
works." I desire to approach thy sacred throne, 
humbly trusting in the merits of thy dear Son." 
Thou hast laid me under obligations, numerous, 
strong, and endearing, to love and serve thee : 
" Thou hast done great things for me, whereof I 
am glad." Thou hast blessed me with all temporal 
and spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. The sta- 
tions which thy creatures occupy, and the circum- 
stances in which they are placed, are arranged by 
thee as the God of Providence. Thou dost fix the 
bounds of their habitation, and dost ordain the lot 
of their inheritance. Thou hast called me, in thy 
providence, to sustain the character and discharge 
the duties of a mother. Thou knowest my frame, 
and rememberest that I am dust, art acquainted 
with the care which often presses down my spirits, 
and the solemn responsibility which, as a parent, 
devolves upon me. Thou knowest the various du- 
ties I have to discharge towards my children (or 
child) " which thou has graciously given me ;" my 
soul sometimes trembles and sinks down within me, 
so that I exclaim " who is sufficient for these things ! 
O thou compassionate Father, teach me what I 
14 



158 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

ought to do — make known to me the duties I owe 
to my offspring committed to my care. Reveal to 
me by thy Spirit, the manner in which I should dis- 
charge these solemn and important duties. Give 
me, I beseech thee, ability, wisdom, and strength, 
that I may act a mother's part, as well as feel a mo- 
ther's love. Enable me to conduct myself with con- 
scientiousness, affection, and fidelity toward my 
household. May I feel disposed to pray for them 
more frequently and fervently — to administer to 
them that instruction which is suited to their age, 
disposition, and circumstances — to discover before 
them those tempers and dispositions, and exhibit to 
their view that conduct which they may safely and 
beneficially imitate and follow. Let thy strength be 
made perfect in my weakness. May that strength 
which enabled me to bear the trials which I have 
been called to endure, be imparted to help me in the 
discharge of every duty and obligation in domestic 
life. 

Regulate, O Lord, all my affections towards my 
dear children (or child). May my attachment not 
be inordinate. May they (or it) not occupy too 
much of those affections and that solicitude, which 
other and more important objects demand. Pre- 
serve me from idolatry, and let Jesus, who deserves 
my love, reign in my heart without a rival. And 
when it shall please thee to call me to resign any of 
these my earthly comforts, may I submissively yield 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 159 

them, and look forward in humble hope to the period 
when we shall meet again in happier circumstances. 
Pardon, I beseech thee, all my iniquities — my 
omission of duty, as well as my commission of sin. 
I confess I am chargeable with innumerable defects ; 
that with regard to my relative situation as a mother 
and wife, I have not walked perfectly ; but what- 
ever has hitherto been amiss kindly overlook, and 
enable me for the future to walk as I ought to walk, 
that it may glorify thee and benefit all around. 
These mercies, with every unmentioned favour, I 
seek in the name and through the infinite merits 
of the Redeemer, to whom with the Father and 
Spirit I desire to ascribe everlasting glory. Amen. 

HYMNS. 

PRAISE FOR RECOVERY. 

Rais'd from the borders of the grave, 
My rescued soul shall loudly praise, 
Thy pow'r omnipotent to save, 
And lift to thee exulting lays. 

Awake, awake, and tune the lyre, 
Almighty love the song inspire ; 
Oh, let me not attempt in vain, 
The pure, the elevated strain, 

To him who triumph'd o'er my fears, 
And wiped my eyes from falling tears ; 
"Who in my weakness made me strong, 
To him I'll consecrate my song. 

Disdain not, O Eternal King, 
To hear thy grateful handmaid sing, 
Though with a seraph's ardent flame, 
I cannot celebrate thy name. 



160 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

Yet though a mortal heart below, 
Feels not of love angelic glow, 
The Lord will condescend to hear 
A feebler anthem, if sincere. 

HELP AFFORDED. 

Kindly the Lord appear'd, 

In nature's trying hour ; 

My sinking spirits promptly cheer'd, 

By promis'd love and power. 

He found me on the bed 
Of languishing and pain ; 
Bade me on him recline my head, 
Nor bade recline in vain. 

I saw his mighty arm 

Stretch o'er the rolling wave, 

He snatch'd my life from threat'ning harm, 

And show'd his power to save. 

I heard him bid disease 

Retire, and it obeyed ; 

He spake, and pain was turn'd to ease, 

And every fear was stay'd. 

An angel from above, 

He sent to bear me up ; 

And from my trembling hand remove 

Griefs bitter cup. 

How then can I refuse 

The tributary strain, 

To him who wasted strength renews, 

And makes me whole again. 

O may my future days, 

True gratitude display ; 

Not merely speak, but live his praise, 

Through each revolving day. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 161 



VOWS MADE IN SORROW PERFORMED AT THE FOOTSTOOL OF MERCY. 

My soul, with gratitude record 
The loving-kindness of the Lord, 

So signally display'd ; 
Come, worship him without delay, 
Now haste, my heart, those vows to pay, 

Which were in sorrow made. 

Didst thou not say, when much distrest, 
When sickness, grief, and pain opprest, 

— If God be pleased to raise 
His handmaid from the verge of death, 
So that I still retain my breath, 

I'll speak his worthy praise. 

Thy prayer was heard, thy life was spar'd, 
In thy support his arm was bar'd. 

And now he claims thy song ; 
That song wilt thou refuse to sing, 
That vow wilt thou refuse to bring, 

And thy Protector wrong 1 

Ah, no ! such black ingratitude, 
Shall ne'er into this heart intrude, 

Which is God's temple made ; 
The vows of God are on my head, 
Nor shall it e'er of me be said, 

Those vows were never paid. 

According to my vows, I give 

To thee, O Lord, while I shall live, 

The whole that I possess ; 
That which I most of all deplore, 
Is that I cannot bring thee more, 

By which my love t' express. 

14* 



162 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 



DESIRE TO APPEAR IN THE SANCTUARY. 

O when shall I appear, 
Within thy house, O Lord ; 
My Ebenezer there to rear, 
My gratitude record. 

Before assembled saints, 

My sacrifice I'll bring ; 

To him who heard my sore complaints, 

Loud praises will I sing. 

He show'd his pow'r to save, 
When death was hov'ring near : 
A life he spar'd — a life he gave, 
Such love I must revere. 

Angels above the skies, 
Who round the altar throng, 
Witness the grateful incense rise, 
And aid a handmaid's song. 

Ye saints of God below, 

Shall hear the praise I bring ; 

Your strains with mine shall mingled flow, 

From hearts well tuned to sing. 



THE PASTORAL OFFICE OF CHRIST. 

How sweet the theme Isaiah sung, 
His heart was touch'd with hallow'd fire ; 
To praise Immanuel's name he strung 
With joy the consecrated lyre. 
Hail ! sweet prophetic minstrelsy, 
Thy numbers charm the listening ear ; 
No music half so sweet can be — 
No theme to saints is half so dear. 






OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 163 

Come, listen to the enraptur'd strain, 

Hear the sweet pastoral he sings ; 

Though worldlings may the theme disdain, 

Attach'd to sublunary things. 

'•' Jesus I sing, the God — the man — 

11 Sovereign and shepherd — sire and son ; 

" The centre of redemption's plan, 

" The holy uncreated One. 

" He shall collect his scatter'd fold, 

" And watch the sheep with pastoral care ; 

" Refresh the weary — bear the old, — 

" And for the hungering, food prepare. 

" He with his strong yet tender arms, 

" The lambs shall gather to his breast ; 

" There carried safe from all alarms, 

11 Protected — nourish'd — and caress'd. 

" The burden'd he will gently lead, 

" He knows their weakness and their fears ; 

" Give them the strength which they may need, 

" With his kind hand wipe all their tears." 

Blest shepherd ! wondrous is his care, 

Well might the prophet hymn his praise ; 

Both parents and their offspring share, 

His love, his sympathy, and grace. 

He, while he sojourned here on earth, 

The pastor's character display'd ; 

The young and aged knew his worth, 

O'er them he watch'd, and wept and pray'd. 

How oft he little children blest, 

While they their infant homage paid ; 

He gave the heavy laden rest, 

And parents sought and felt his aid. 

Now he is lifted to a throne, 

His glorious seat in heaven to fill, 

Yet still he hears the weary groan, 

And proves himself a shepherd still. 



164 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

Join then the prophet's strain of old; 
To Jesus let your harps be strung : — . 
Sing the kind shepherd of the fold, 
Friend of the weary and the young. 



PRESENTING THE CHILD TO GOD. 

Lord, wilt thou hear a father s prayer, 
Wilt thou regard a mother's sigh 1 
Dost thou not in thy word declare, 
That thou wilt never such deny 1 

Encourag'd by thy word of grace, 
We bring our infant to thy throne ; 
Give it within thy heart a place, 
Let it be thine — and thine alone. 

Conceiv'd in sin, and born in guilt. 
We know it must be sanctified ; 
Lord, thou canst cleanse it, if thou wilt, 
And all its native evils hide. 

We ask not for it earthly bliss, 

No worldly honours, wealth, or fame ; 

The sum of our request is this, 

To know and fear, and love thy name. 

If thou art pleas'd, Lord, to bestow 
The blessings of the " Upper Spring," 
Thou wilt not, as it roams below, 
Refuse it any needful thing. 

Our infant we by faith commit 
To thy kind love and guardian care, 
Do with it as to thee seems fit, 
Only thy mercy let it share. 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 165 



CHAPTER V. 

Address to Irreligious Mothers — Importance of Personal Piety — 
Its Effects upon Families — Anecdote — Reflection of Children 
upon Parents — Address to the Childless — Reasons for Reconci- 
liation — Less Anxiety — Pious Parents have sometimes Wicked 
Children — Less Expense — Know not the Loss of Children — 
Fewer Ties to bind to the World — More Time for Useful Pur. 
poses — God promises to make up the Loss or Want of Children — 
Address to Widowed Mothers — Address to those who have Lost 
Children — Address to Husbands. 

In whatever circumstances and situations persons 

may be placed in the present life, personal religion 

will yield to its possessor incalculable advantages, 

especially in the hour of distress ; it will afford those 

unfailing supports and invaluable consolations which 

can be derived from no other source whatever. 

" 'Tis religion that can give 

" Sweetest pleasures while we live ; 

" 'Tis religion must supply 

" Solid comfort when we die; 

" After death its joys will be 

" Lasting as eternity. 

" Be the living God my friend, 

" Then my bliss will never end." 

Religion is necessary for all persons ; for the 
young, as a preservative against the seductions of 
an ungodly world, and the temptations of a busy 
enemy : for the aged to sustain them under the in- 
firmities and decrepitude of years, and to cheer them 
in the near prospect of another world : for masters 
and parents to enable them to discharge the relative 



166 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

duties of life. I will not say that it is more necessary 
for one person than another, for it is equally impor- 
tant to the sovereign and the subject — the parent 
and the child — the master and the servant; but there 
are some circumstances in which the important and 
valuable influences of godliness strike the mind 
more forcibly; or the absence of these influences 
affects the mind more deeply and painfully. 

When we consider the particular sphere of life 
which a mother occupies ; the important and ex- 
tensive influence which she has upon the domestic 
circle ; the painful circumstances and imminent 
dangers to which she is exposed, the heart bleeds 
to think that she should have no experimental 
knowledge of the truths of the gospel — that she 
should be unacquainted with those sources of divine 
support, which render her "yoke easy, and her 
burden light." How important for a mother to be 
pious ; it is necessary for her own personal comfort 
and safety. A heavy weight of care and solicitude 
necessarily falls upon her ; and though she may 
possess a tender-hearted and sympathizing husband, 
to share all the anxious feelings of her bosom, yet 
this is not like resting the load upon the arm of 
Omnipotence. It is not like having a God to go to, 
one who has said " Cast thy burden upon the Lord, 
and he will sustain thee. Call upon me in the day 
of trouble and I will deliver thee." To have a 
dear earthly friend, to whom we may tell all our 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 167 

sorrows, is a privilege ; but to have a heavenly 
friend, with whom to deposit all our cares and all 
our concerns, is far better ; the former can sympa- 
thize — the latter can both sympathize and support ; 
but especially in reference to the frequently dreaded 
trial, is religion necessary for the female. It is a 
time when the soul feels sinking, and wants some- 
thing to support it. It is often filled with dark fore- 
bodings and gloomy surmises, as to the result of the 
trial. Sometimes it is almost distracted ; and oh ! 
how delightful to feel at such a season the sweet 
and supporting influence of the "Gospel of peace f 
a conscious interest in the unchanging friend of sin- 
ners ; a sense of blood-bought pardon ; a hope, that 
whatever may be the result of the trial in a provi- 
dential point of view, that all will be well for eter- 
nity. This is delightful, indeed, and the soul 
enjoying these things, may " rejoice in the midst of 
tribulation." Many at this trying hour have found 
their souls unshaken while trusting in some pre- 
cious promise, which has proved a sovereign anti- 
dote to fear. The presence of Jesus has wonder- 
fully supported them. Though the poor frail 
tabernacle has been agitated and distressed, the 
soul has been calm and happy. But how truly 
lamentable the reverse of this. Can we conceive 
of any thing more distressing to the heart than to 
witness a female at this hour of weakness and peril 
without a single source of comfort, except that 



168 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

which arises from outward circumstances ; without 
a single ray of hope in reference to " another and a 
better world." She knows not that she will ever 
rise again from the couch of affliction, and often 
she fears that this will be the case, and a feeling of 
trembling consciousness that all is not right within 
will pass through her anxious mind, and will 
increase the agitation which she feels on other ac- 
counts ; and to have pains of body and pangs of 
mind too, is deeply affecting — it is doubly distressing. 
If the state of the body in such a case were all that 
could occupy the fears, all that could affect the indi- 
vidual, it would be of comparatively small import- 
ance, " But oh ! the soul that never dies." 

What is the concern for the body at such a sea- 
son, to the awful anguish and terrible anticipations 
which will afflict the soul if it be not safe in the 
hands of a blessed Redeemer. Think of this, mo- 
thers ; think of the importance of entering upon this 
domestic trial with a well founded hope, that the 
immortal soul will be safe and happy for ever. How 
painful is the thought, that should an ungodly mo- 
ther and her recently born infant both die, the sepa- 
ration must be eternal ; the latter is unquestionably 
saved, but the mother she giveth up the ghost, and 
where is she ? Can a feeling woman for a moment 
bear the thought of being for ever parted from her 
dear offspring, and yet this is no picture of a fanci- 
ful imagination, accustomed to paint objects -in the 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 169 

darkest colours ; this is no hypothesis ; it is to be 
feared that it has happened, and may happen again ; 
and assuredly will occur, if the mother be not a de- 
voted and pious woman. Suppose an individual, 
under these circumstances of trial, her case is pro- 
nounced dangerous ; but little hope is given by the 
medical attendants ; her situation becomes still more 
unfavourable. She is now given up. She sinks ! 
She dies ! her soul has escaped ! But suppose that 
previous to this she has been thoughtless and gay, 
having never felt any concern about her soul, what 
ground can there be to indulge in a hope of her final 
safety ? If these important affairs of the soul have 
been neglected till the season of suffering, who will 
say that at such a time as this, there is much ex- 
pectation of her becoming truly acquainted with the 
Lord Jesus, so as calmly and confidently to commit 
her soul into His hands, saying, " I know whom I 
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to 
keep that which I have committed unto Him against 
that day." No, the body is exhausted, it can bear 
no more ; the smallest additional weight of mental 
anguish would completely overwhelm the outward 
frame, and the soul would take its flight to another 
world. Alas ! see, the poor trembling, tottering taber- 
nacle sinks into the arms of the last enemy, and her 
soul sinks — but we will pursue the thought no fur- 
ther ; the case is distressing. Should this meet the 
eye of a mother, or an individual who is in prospect 



170 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

of becoming one, but who has not yet given herself 
up to the Lord, let her think of the importance of 
being interested in Jesus, and by now flying to and 
laying hold upon the hope set before her in the gos- 
pel, secure all the advantages of real religion, as they 
have been enumerated above. 

But " pure and undented religion" is necessary 
for a mother not merely in reference to her personal 
comfort and support under afflictions, and her safety 
in the hour of death, but it is needful, on account of 
others with whom she may be connected. Philip 
Henry was wont to say, " we are really what we 
are relatively." What an advantage to the children 
to possess a pious mother; to enjoy her prayers, 
admonitions, and instructions. A mother is neces- 
sarily more with her offspring than the paternal 
head, consequently her opportunities and advantages 
are considerably greater, and how lamentable that 
such opportunities should be misimproved ; that 
such advantages should be unenjoyed with regard 
to the mother and the child. Look around, and 
you will find that a large portion of juvenile delin- 
quency is to be attributed to the absence of parental 
restraints ; to a deficiency of moral and religious in- 
structions. Children sometimes prove curses in- 
stead of comforts to their parents ; and is not this to 
be expected^ when their morals have been so neg- 
lected in childhood ; when they have been exposed 
to the demoralizing effects of bad examples without 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 171 

parental interference ; where the parents themselves 
have not taught them either by precept or example 
to avoid the paths of the destroyer. Especially is a 
mother's influence seen over the female branches of 
the family. They will take their cast of thought — 
their moral mould from their mothers. Her habits, 
her views, her line of conduct will frequently form 
and regulate theirs. O how many seductions from 
the path of virtue might have been prevented, if 
mothers had possessed the fear of the Lord, and 
trained up their daughters in " the good old way." 
Little are some people aware how extensive is the 
influence of a pious mother over the mind and 
morals of her children. Many a child who has 
grown up into life, and, unfortunately, been drawn 
aside into the most loose and guilty practices, has 
severely reflected upon its parents for not checking 
the first buddings of guilt in its childhood ; for not 
teaching it how to avoid the hard way of transgres- 
sions ; and Oh ! how deeply cutting to the heart are 
such reproaches. " Sharper than a serpent's tooth 
it is." Children who are conscious that their 
parents have been chargeable with such neglect, 
will upon them cast all the blame of their improper 
conduct. Such instances have occurred. I will in- 
troduce one which will illustrate the preceding ob- 
servations. " A young girl, eighteen years of age, 
a native of New York, was brought up by her pa- 
rents in all the follies and gayety of youth ; by them 



172 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

encouraged to ornament her person, and engage in 
every vain amusement. When she was taken ill 
three physicians were sent for immediately, who 
pronounced her speedy dissolution. No sooner was 
their opinion made known to her, than she request- 
ed, as a favour, that all her gay companions might 
be collected with haste ; they were soon around her 
bed, when she told them she was going to die, de- 
scribed the awful manner in which they had spent 
their precious time, and exhorted them all to repent- 
ance before it was too late, in a very affecting man- 
ner. She then, turning to her father and mother, 
addressed to them, in the presence of her acquaint- 
ance, these heart-rending words : ' You have been 
the unhappy instruments of my being ; you fostered 
me in pride, and led me into the paths of sin : you 
never once warned me of my danger, and now it is 
too late. In a few hours you will have to cover me 
with earth; but remember while you are casting 
earth upon my body, my soul will be in hell, and 
yourselves the miserable cause.' She soon after 
expired." O mothers, ruin not your daughters. 
Ye fathers destroy not the souls of your sons, or 
you will some time or other meet with their bitter, 
biting reproaches ; if not in this world, at least in 
the next. What will be the sensations of some pa- 
rents, when their children will meet them as ac T 
cusers, and attribute their eternal ruin to an indif- 
ference to their moral and religious state ; not only 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 173 

neglecting to tell them what was right, but setting 
them an example of what was wrong. Not only 
for not restraining them from evil, but actually lead- 
ing them into it. How will they curse the hour of 
their birth ; the moment when it is said, " a child is 
born." How will they regret that they ever de- 
scended from such parents, who gave life to their 
bodies, but death to their souls ; who are fully nou- 
rished their frames, but wickedly infused moral poi- 
son into their minds. O parents, through the neg- 
lect of your own souls ; through your want of good 
principles and practices, all this dreadful effect is 
produced. If you value not your own souls, you 
will care nothing about the souls of your children. 
In consequence of your want of piety, your dear 
offspring, instead of being arrows of defence in your 
hands, will be barbed darts in your souls, and " pierce 
you through with many sorrows." Why should 
you complain of your children growing up disobe- 
dient, immoral, disreputable, when you have not 
discharged the duty of parents toward them ? Such 
a consequence naturally follows from such a cause. 
Those are but half parents and half monsters, who 
feed and clothe their children's bodies, but altogether 
neglect the mental and moral part. Let mothers, if 
they wish to be safe and happy themselves, and de- 
sire their children to be so too, and to prove bless- 
ings to themselves, their parents, the church, and 
the world, seek an interest in divine things. Let 
15* 



174 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

them earnestly and immediately inquire after the 
Lord, and pray that they may possess that " godli- 
ness" which hath the promise of the life that now 
is, and of that also which is to come. May the Lord 
God bless you, and make you blessings to your dear 
children. 

I would next address those who are childless. 
God, in his providence, has not been pieased to 
crown the marriage union with an issue : this may 
create a feeling of dissatisfaction. Indeed there are 
but few persons who are really contented with the 
allotments of divine Providence ; their house is not 
so as they desire ! Either they have too many chil- 
dren, or too few ; too many of this kind, or too many 
of the other. Those who have a large family are 
ready, at times, to envy the situation of those who 
have none ; and those who have none, would resign 
every thing, could they have their quiver full of 
them, or could they have but one. But whether you 
have children or not ; whether you have few or 
many ; whether you have all of one sex, or all of 
another, the wisdom and goodness of God's provi- 
dence are unquestionable and apparent. 

You have not the honourable and endearing 
name of mother. Your countenance is not lighted 
up by the smiles and prattle of an interesting childj 
and you are ready to repine that these blessings are 
not yours ; that these domestic mercies have not 
descended upon your tabernacle. But let me sug- 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 175 

gest, how many things there are which should 
make you submit cheerfully to your lot. Remember 
that though there are many pleasures in domestic 
life, yet there are many trials and anxieties which 
none but parents know. In some seasons did you 
but know how the heart beats with fear ! What a 
weight presses upon the spirits ! What a number of 
corroding cares exist respecting the future situations 
of children ! How they are to be provided for, and 
how they are to be disposed of. Could you place 
yourselves in the condition of mothers at such* a pe- 
riod, you might not be thus anxious for an exchange, 
and especially as children do not always grow up 
as the parents wish. Pleasing hopes are sometimes 
blasted, the fondly cherished expectations cut off. 
An ungrateful, unkind, abandoned child is a source 
of keen grief to the parent's mind. Could we indeed 
be always assured that children would rise up into 
life, ornaments and comforts to their parents, useful 
members of society, to be beloved and admired, the 
situation of parents might be more enviable. Pious 
David had a rebellious child. Eli had sons who 
made themselves vile. Eve had a Cain, Solomon a 
Rehoboam. Jacob had two sons of cruelty, and 
many other pious persons have been afflicted with 
degenerate children. There is scarcely a social 
circle that does not supply an affecting instance. So 
that there are crosses as well as comforts with a 
family, to which you are strangers. 



176 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

And while you have not the cares and crosses of 
a family, neither have you the expenses of one. 
Though God, in his merciful providence, supplies 
his creatures with needful things, and has encou- 
raged his people to trust in Him for such things as 
they really require, yet there is frequently an anxiety 
and apprehenson in the minds of parents, especially 
if they have a large family, and have no resources 
hut their own exertions. Some find a difficulty in 
maintaining their families creditably in the world, 
and notwithstanding all their honest efforts, are 
brought into straits and embarrassments, and obliged 
to be painfully dependant upon the liberality and 
bounty of others. Now you have none of these dis- 
tracting domestic cares. 

You are anxious for children, and possibly, like 
Hannah, you may pray for them, but perhaps you 
do not know what you wish and pray for. You may 
be supplicating a sword to pierce through your 
bones i an engine of your own destruction. Are you 
persuaded that what you so anxiously wish and beg 
will prove a blessing to you, that it will enhance 
your real enjoyment? Alas, you are blind to 
future events ! That which you so earnestly desire, 
if granted, might deprive you of the very happiness 
you now enjoy, instead of adding a single particle 
unto it Rachel said, " Give me children, or I die." 
But death was in the request, So foolish and igno- 
rant was she, as to what would really contribute to 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 177 

her future interests and prosperity, that she thought 
she should surely die if she had no child. God knew 
that she would die if she had. He granted her wish, 
and what was the result? a most unexpected and 
afflictive one indeed. " And they journeyed from 
Bethel, and there was a little way to come to Ephrah, 
and RacheJ travailed, and she had hard labour. And 
it came to pass that while she was in hard labour 
that the midwife said unto her, " Fear not, thou 
shalt have this son also." " And it came to pass as 
her soul was departing (for she died) that she called 
his name Ben-oni," &c. She had better have been 
contented with her barrenness, for her fruitfulness 
killed her. In wishing for children, she sought her 
death, and left her partner, Jacob, absorbed in 
widowed grief, and resigned her sons, Benjamin and 
Joseph, to the care of others. Often do parents mis- 
take with regard to these things, like Rachel, who 
was ruined at her own request. The elegant Hervey, 
speaking of Rachel's wish for an offspring, and the 
result of the bestowment observes, " that she disco- 
vered an ardour of impatience altogether unbecom- 
ing, and as mistaken as it was unbecoming. She dies, 
not by the disappointment, but the accomplishment 
of her desire. If children are to parents like a flow- 
ery chaplet, whose beauties blossom with ornament, 
and whose odours breathe delight ;' death, or some 
fell misfortune, may find means to entwine itself with 
the lovely wreath. Whenever our souls are poured 



178 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

out with passionate importunity after any inferior 
acquisition, it may be truly .said, in the language of 
our divine master, "Ye know not what ye ask." 
Does Providence withhold any thing which we long 
for ! It denies in mercy, and only withholds the oc- 
casion of our misery ; perhaps the instrument of our 
ruin. With a sickly appetite, we often loathe what 
is wholesome, and hanker after our bane. Where 
imagination dreams of unmingled sweets, there ex- 
perience often finds the bitterness of wo." 

If you have no children, you do not know the 
pangs of parting with them. The loss of child- 
ren is a great loss, and causes a tender parent's 
heart to bleed with sorrow. To see the little in- 
nocent babe suffering, but unable to express its 
pains, except by uncertain, and at times unintel- 
ligible motions ; to see it struggling with the 
agonies of death j to behold its cold and stiffened 
frame ; to follow it to " the house appointed for all 
living :" this is a severe trial. Sometimes a child 
lives just long enough to become peculiarly interest- 
ing, by the unfolding of the powers of the body and 
the mind; and every day the little creature en- 
twines closer and closer round the parent's heart ; 
or it may even live so long as to raise pleasing ex- 
pectations of shortly entering with credit upon the 
important situations of life, and then be summoned 
away. Now these are heavy trials such as you are 
not called to experience. 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 179 

Beside, you have fewer ties to bind you to this 
world, than those who have a family. You have 
bui one living argument to wish you to continue 
here. Mothers and fathers have many. Each one of 
these transient gifts constitutes a link in the chain 
to bind the soul more closely to the earth. How- 
ever the soul may on its own account long " to be 
with Christ," yet children form a strong inducement 
to live; on their account "it is more needful to 
abide" here. 

Recollect also that the time of a mother is neces- 
sarily more occupied, so that she has not some of 
the recreations and enjoyments that you possess. 
Your confinement to domestic scenes is not so close. 
You can better spare time for the cultivation of the 
mind, for retirement from the world, attention to 
devotional objects, for the performance of works of 
faith and labours of love, and various other interest- 
ing, useful, and healthy employments, which mo- 
thers do not enjoy : so that " one thing is set over 
against another :" if you have less comfort you 
have less care. The aggregate of happiness is per- 
haps more equal, and the disproportion of providen- 
tial bestowments not so great, as many are disposed 
to think ; the balance is not much in favour of 
either. But suppose that sterility had fewer advan- 
tages than fruitfulness, the circumstance that it is 
the wise disposal of Providence ought to make indi- 
viduals resigned to it ; and never should it in any 






180 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

case produce (as it is to be feared it sometimes does) 
any alienation of affection or confidence, in those 
who are united in wedlock. It is neither a proof of 
their good sense nor their piety. 

If they consider their situation disadvantageous, 
why render it still more so, by admitting any thing 
like a feeling of disaffection to creep into the heart 
to eat away, " like a worm in the bud," domestic 
bliss. Remember that as your persons are not mul- 
tiplied into little ones, your affections admit not of 
so many divisions ; there are fewer objects to attract 
and absorb them. 

Beside, God has promised to compensate the want 
or the less of children by his own presence and pro- 
mises. He has not forgotten you. " He maketh 
the barren woman to keep house. God setteth the 
solitary in families." " Thus saith the Lord unto 
the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the 
things that please me, and take hold of my covenant, 
even unto them will I give a name in my house, and 
within my walls, a place and a name, better than 
that of sons and daughters. I will give them an 
everlasting name that shall not be cut off." 

Let widowed mothers take comfort. It is an 
affecting case when a husband is snatched away by 
the hand of death, leaving the poor female in a situa- 
tion when most she needs his attentions and sym- 
pathies. Such a circumstance as this adds much 
affliction to the already afflicted individual. She is 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 181 

brought into the trial of childbirth ; but she has, 
alas ! no husband to soothe her ! the child is brought 
to the birth, but it has no father on earth to welcome 
it. Deep as this affliction is, there is comfort in the 
gospel respecting it, to those who know the Lord. 
To a mother who has been bereaved of her husband, 
and left with a rising family — with an infant at the 
breast, — and in many cases without any visible 
means of supporting herself and fatherless babes- 
many promises are made. You have been made a 
mother, and are now made a widow ! but what en- 
couragement have you to trust in the Lord. He has 
particularly espoused the cause of those who are thus 
situated, and has remarkably promised to extend his 
protecting care and paternal love to such. Now 
listen to some of the kind things which God has 
said of you, and to you ; and let your faith lay hold 
of them. " Ye shall not afflict any widow or father- 
less child ; if thou afflict them in anywise, and they 
cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry, and 
my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the 
sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your 
children fatherless." Exodus xxii. 22, 23, 24. " He 
doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and 
widow." Deut. x. 18. " The poor committeth him- 
self to thee. Thou art the helper of the fatherless. 
To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the 
man of the earth may no more oppress." Psalm x. 
14 — 18. " A father of the fatherless, and a judge of 
16 



182 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

tlie widows, is God in his holy habitation." Psalm 
lxviii. 5. "He relieveth the fatherless and the 
widow." Psalm clxvi. 9. " The Lord will destroy 
the house of the proud ; but he will establish the 
border of the widow." Prov. xv. 25. " Remove not 
the old land-mark, and enter not into the fields of 
the fatherless, for their Redeemer is mighty, he shall 
plead their cause with thee." Prov. xxiii. 10, 11. 
' Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them 
alive. And let thy widows Jxust in me." Jer. xlix. 
11. "In thee the fatherless findeth mercy." Hosea 
xiv. 3. And the scriptures represent it as one of the 
most distinguishing marks of genuine piety, to pay 
attention to persons in this situation. " Pure religion 
and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to 
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." 
James i. 27. And will you not be of good cheer 1 
Is your husband taken away, so that an additional 
weight of care and trouble is thrown upon you, re- 
member God has made up to you the loss, by making 
over to you, not only himself, but such particular 
and delightful promises. These assurances of God's 
providence, love, and protection to you and your 
children, are equal to the best of husbands ; you had 
a man to your husband, and now you have a God ; 
for " your maker is your husband — the Lord of 
Hosts is his name," and is not God better than man ? 
Your children had an earthly being for their father, 
now they have the eternal Jehovah for their parent 3 



• OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 183 

and may say to him, " Thou art our Father, and 
thou shalt be the guide of our youth. When my 
father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord 
will take me up." Cease then your sorrows, ye 
widowed mothers. Wear not too long your weeds, 
those sad emblems of your loss and grief; but take 
" beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and 
•the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 
Commit yourselves and your fatherless children into 
his affectionate and fatherly hands, and he will cause 
your widowed heart to sing for joy. If you are in 
prospect of nature's trial, and have no husband — 
death having recently robbed you — double your trust 
in the blessed Lord, and remember that as your trial 
is doubled, he will render to you double support. If 
you have less attention and sympathy from the 
creature, you shall have inconceivably more from 
the Almighty. Should you be spared through the 
trial, the child Avill be one of peculiar interest. It 
will be emphatically a child of providence, and will 
be what the Psalmist says he was, " Cast upon the 
Lord from his mother's womb ;" cast upon his pro- 
vidential care, guidance and support. Remember 
the kind and condescending care and attentions of 
Jesus to the widow of Nain. Her situation was 
probably more afflictive than yours. She had no 
husband, but then she consoled, herself with the 
thought that she had one comfort left — a beloved 
son, in whom all her affections were centered, to 



184 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

whom she looked forward as likely to be the delight 
and stay of her widowed years and increasing age ; 
but God smote this gourd also ; and then to her 
there seemed to be nothing left. u A dead man was 
carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was 
a widow" Jesus met her, saw her weeping, and 
soon eased her sorrow. By his Almighty power he 
raised her dead son, and restored him to his mother ; 
and He, " who in the days of his flesh" pitied the 
widowed and childless mother, will pity you, what- 
ever may be the aggravation of your afflictions. 
Exercise faith in him^ and he will impart comfort 
to you* 

Those who have lost children may take comfort. 
Some are apt to repine and say, why did I suffer all 
that anxiety beforehand, and so much pain at the 
birth, to have the child so soon taken from my ma- 
ternal embrace. But mind that you do not " charge 
God foolishly." God gave, and he has an equal 
right to take away. The trial is indeed great to an 
affectionate parent, but it is desirable under all these 
trials to see what alleviations, rather than what 
aggravations can be discovered ; to gather all the 
encouraging circumstances which can reconcile the 
mind to the affliction, and support under it. That 
it is the duty of parents cheerfully to submit to the 
will of God, is so clear, that it is scarcely necessary 
to prove, or illustrate it. Do you think your la- 
bours, pains, and anxieties in vain, beeause your 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 185 

dear babe so soon and suddenly took its flight ? O 
selfish feeling ! O interested motive ! What ! is it 
too much to give birth to a being capable of, and 
now actually enjoying bliss immeasurable and eter- 
nal ; purity perfect and unsullied ! To add only 
one to the number of immortal, glorious, and glori- 
fied spirits, is surely a sufficient compensation for 
all the pain, toil and anxiety which you suffered in 
giving it a being in this world. Why should you 
mourn because your child is a few years sooner in 
heaven than yourself — has a few years sooner taken 
possession of the purchased and promised glory 7 
Perhaps you have recently followed to the grave a 
dear infant ; for the tender sapling withers as well 
as the sturdy and aged oak. And are you incon- 
solable? Do you refuse to be comforted because 
your child is not ? 'Tis true that it only opened its 
eyes to gaze unconsciously upon its parents ; opened 
them to let a few tears escape, showing it was come 
into a world of sin and sorrow : uttered a few cries 
by way of illustration of that scripture, Man is " born 
in sin," and " born to trouble," and then closed its 
eyes for ever upon a world which was not worth a 
longer abode. The same sun which rose upon its 
birth, set upon its departure. The beauteous flower 
opened with the rising day, breathed a transient 
odour and closed with the succeeding evening sha- 
dows. But why do ydu regret ? Consider what 
there is to reconcile your mind to its speedy exit 

16* . 



186 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

from your embraces. It has escaped certain misery 
and sin in the present world. Man is conceived in 
sin and " grows up to mourn." It is taken away, 
but it is taken away from the evil to come. You 
introduced it into a world of guilt and grief ; God 
has mercifully introduced it into a world of unfad- 
ing pleasure and holiness. Had it lived, you know 
not what might have been its state either in time or 
eternity. Here it might have been a " Magor Mis- 
sabib ;" here it might not have been as it now is, 
infinitely and eternally happy. Had it been spared 
to grow up, you might have had more grief in its 
life than you now have at its absence. You are 
assured that it is now happy. You have seen it in 
this world, a sickly, unholy and dying infant — you 
shall see it in the next a blooming, pure and happy 
angel. May we construe your tears into a wish to 
have it back again in this sinful state % Ah ! would 
you, if a wish could accomplish your object, bring 
it from its elevated and glorious position in heaven, 
to the cradle — the lap — to a sinful and corrupting 
world ? O cruel wish ! the wish is not parental — - 
at least it is not submissive and holy. Be thankful 
that you have given existence to a happy immortal ; 
and though, had it pleased God, you had rather it 
had continued a little longer to cheer you with its 
smiles, yet as he determined to make it happy 
sooner than you expected, do not repine — do not 
think hardly of God — for he has acted wisely — he 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 187 

has acted kindly. Recollect the Shunamitish wo- 
man, how resigned ! how calm ! not a murmur of 
dissatisfaction ! not a sigh of regret ! She had lost 
a child, and she said, " It is well." David was dis- 
tressed when the child was ill and expiring ; when 
it was dead he shaved his head ! his mind was 
calm, and he comforted himself, saying, " I shall go 
to him, but he shall not return to me." I have read 
of a lady, who having lost her husband, comforted 
herself by reflecting, that she had two lovely boys 
left to cheer her. By a severe accident one of them 
was soon taken from her ; this was a heavy trial, 
but she still found comfort in her remaining boy, 
and fixed all her affections upon this her only son. 
Shortly after, intelligence was brought that her 
child was drowned. She calmly said, " I see God 
is determined to have all my heart, and he shall." 
What an example of resignation — follow it.* 

* The lines addressed by Samuel Pearce to a bereaved mo- 
ther have in them much tenderness and beauty. 

" THE GARDENER AND ROSE TREE." 

" A FABLE." 

" Affectionately addressed to Mrs. J. H. , on the death 

of her child, by her truly sympathising friend, S. P." 

March 12, 1798. 

" In a sweet spot which Wisdom chose, 
Grew a unique and lovely Rose ; 
A flow'r so fair was seldom borne — 
A Rose almost without a thorn. 
Each passing stranger stopp'd to view 
A plant possessing charms so new : 



188 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

Did your infant, as it were, disdain to breathe at 
all in this polluted atmosphere ; did its ransomed 

" Sweet Flow'r .'" each lip was heard to say — 
Nor less the Owner pleased than they ; 
Rear'd by his hand with constant care, 
And planted in his choice parterre, 
Of all his garden this the pride, 
No flower so much admired beside. 

Nor did the rose unconscious bloom, 
Nor feel ungrateful for the boon, 
Oft as her guardian came that way, 
Whether at the dawn or eve of day, 
Expanded wide— her form unveil'd, 
She double fragrance then exhal'd. 

As months rolled on, the spring appear'd, 
Its genial rays the Rose matur'd ; 
Forth from its root a shoot extends — 
The parent Rose-tree downward bends, 
And with a joy unknown before, 
Contemplates the yet embryo flow'r. 

8 Offspring most dear (she fondly said,) 
'Part of myself ! beneath my shade, 
'Safe shalt thou rise, whilst happy I, 
' Transported with maternal joy, 
' Shall see thy little buds appear, 
'Unfold and bloom in beauty here. 

' What though the Lily, or Jonquil, 
' Or Hyacinth no longer fill 
'The space around me— All shall be 
'Abundantly made up in thee. 

' What though my present charms decay, 
'And passing strangers no more say 
'Of we, 'Sweet flower !' yet thou shalt raise 
'Thy blooming head, and gain the praise ; 
'And this reverberated pleasure 
1 Shall be to me a world of treasure. 
'Cheerful I part, with former merit, 
' That it my darling may inherit. 
' Haste then the hours which bid the bloom, 
'And fill the zephers with perfume !' 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 189 

soul wing its way before the material and mortal 
part became visible to the sight of its parents ? Was 

Thus had the Rose-tree scarcely spoken, 
Ere the sweet cup of bliss was broken— 
The Gard'ner came, and with one stroke 
He from the root the offspring took ; 
Took from the soil wherein it grew, 
And hid it from the parent's view. 

Judge ye who know a mother's cares 
For the dear tender babes she bears, 
The parent's anguish — ye alone 
Such sad vicissitudes have known. 

Deep was the wound ; nor slight the pain 
Which made the Rose-tree thus complain ;— 

'Dear little darling ! art thou gone — 
'Thy charms scarce to thy mother known ! 
'Remov'd so soon !— So suddenly, 
1 Snatch' d from my fond maternal eye ! 
1 What hast thou done 1 — dear offspring ! say, 
'So early to be snatch'd away ! 
' What ! gone for ever /—seen no more ; 
1 For ever I thy loss deplore. 
' Ye dews descend, with tears supply 
' My now for ever tearful eye ; 
' Or rather come some northern blast, 
'Dislodge my yielding roots in haste. 
•Whirlwinds arise— my branches tear, 
•And to some, distant regions bear 
'Far from this spot, 'a wretched mother, 
'Whose fruit and joys are gone together,' 

As thus the anguish'd Rose-tree cry'd, 
Her owner near her she espy'd ; 
Who in these gentle terms reprov'd 
A plant, though murm'ring, still belov'd : — 

• Cease, beauteous flow'r, these useless criea, 
' And let my lessons make thee wise. 
' Art thou not mine 1 Did not my hand 
' Transplant thee from the barren sand 
' Where once a mean unsightly plant, 
' Expos'd to injury and want, 



190 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

the mother's womb the temporary grave of the. 
infant ? Let not this be a source of grief. It is not 

' Unknown, and unadmired, I found, 

'And brought thee to this fertile ground ; 

' With studious art improv'd thy form, 

'Secur'd thee from the inclement storm, 

' And through the seasons of the year, 

1 Made thee my unabating care 1 

'Hast thou not blest thy happy lot, 

'In such an owner— such a spot 1 

1 But now because thy shoot I've taken, 

'Thy best of friends must be forsaken. 

'Know flow'r beloved, e'en this affliction 

' Shall prove to thee a benediction : 

'Had I not the young plant remov'd, 

' (So fondly by thy heart belov'd) 

' Of me thy heart would scarce have thought, 

' With gratitude no more be fraught : 

' — Yea — thy own beauty be at stake 

' Surrender'd for thy offspring's sake. 

' Nor think, that, hidden from thine eyes, 

' The infant plant neglected lies— 

' No — Iv'e another garden where 

' In richer soil and purer air 

'Its now transplanted there to shine, 

' In beauties fairer far than thine. 

'Nor shalt thou always be apart 
'From the dear darling of thy heart ; 
'For 'tis my purpose thee to bear 
' In future time, and plant thee there, 
' Where thy now absent off-set grows, 
'And blossoms a celestial Rose. 
'Be patient, then, till that set hour shall come, 
' When thou and thine shall in new beauties bloom. 
'No more its absence shalt thou then deplore, 
'Together grow, and ne'er be parted more.' 

These words to silence hush'd the plaintive Rose, 
With deeper blushes redd'ning now she glows, 
Submissive bow'd her unrepining head, 
Again her wonted, grateful fragrance shed — 
Cry'd, ' Thou hast taken only what's thine own, 
'Therefore, thy will, my Lord, not mine, be done.' " 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 191 

a new thing under the sun, for the dear babe to 
make so rapid a transit from its mother's womb to 
the kind bosom of Him who died for sinners ; nor 
should it be a subject of regret. As it dies, it may 
occasion the sigh and tear of disappointment, but it 
is a death under the most favourable circumstances, 
" Better is it for the tender stranger to be stopped in 
the porch, than to enter only to converse with 
affliction. Better to find a grave in the womb, than 
to be exposed in a hazardous world, without the 
guardian of its infantile years, without the faithful 
guide of its youth." 

It might have been otherwise. The mother might 
have perished in the effort to bring to the light, the 
infant to whom she had given life and nourishment. 
The feeble frame of the mother has sometimes sunk 
irrecoverably in the trial. The stem shoots forth a 
tender scion, then sickens, withers, and dies. She 
just lives to see her beloved babe, and as if satisfied 
with the glance, bows her head and is gathered to 
her fathers. This is an afflictive event to survivors : 
to the husband it is a poor exchange of a copy for 
the original. To have the fruit and entirely to lose 
the tree, seems not to his advantage. With what 
feelings must the widowed parent look upon this 
little stranger. Innocent matricide (as he folds it in 
his arms and presses it to his heart, which beats with 
a thousand strange sensations of fondness and fear) 
it was at an immense expense that thou wast 



192 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

brought forth. Thou knowest not the dreadful 
pangs — the bitterness of death which thou didst 
(unconsciously indeed) occasion to her who gave 
thee birth. She left this world to give thee room in 
it. Shouldst thou live, thou mayest make some com- 
pensation for the awful ravages which thou hast 
made upon thy father's enjoyments ; and the sad 
vacancy thou hast made in the domestic circle, by 
thy growing beauties and virtues. May thy mother's 
amiable temper, her purity of principle, her pious 
habits be reflected in thee. On thee may her sweet 
image be stamped, that her dear features of body 
and mind may be ever present, (by representation at 
least,) to thy afflicted and bereaved parent. And 
though this in some respects will be a painful 
memento, yet in some seasons it will operate as a 
comfort to the soul. 

Beside, it might have happened that both the mo- 
ther and the child expired together. The rose might 
have been plucked by the cruel hand of death, and 
with it the recently formed bud. Sometimes the 
mother is taken, and is herself a tomb for her infant, 
while the melancholy complaint of a monarch's wo 
is the epitaph for them both. The children are come 
to the birth, and there is not strength to bring them 
forth." And if the mother should die, it is not much 
to be regretted if the infant should accompany her 
to the abodes of bliss ; for were it to live it would 
necessarily be exposed to inconveniences, dangers, 



OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 193 

and afflictions, through the loss of the female parent. 
The child often grows up a sickly and unhealthy 
plant, and is the source of many painful sensations 
to the bereaved parent. Such calamitous circum- 
stances have not befallen you ; your life has been 
spared; the branch decayed; this was of minor 
importance to yourself — your husband — your fa- 
mily — and your friends. Be reconciled, therefore, 
to the loss of your children. Ever remember they 
are loans intrusted to you, to be reclaimed hereafter, 
and you should always stand ready to acknowledge 
the debt and pay it back again with a cheerful and 
composed mind. " The Lord gave and he hath 
taken away ;" he lent and he hath recalled the pre- 
cious loan, " Blessed be the name of the Lord." This 
couplet should be written upon all your children : 

" The dear delights we here enjoy, 
And fondly call our own, 
Are but short favours borrowed now, 
To be repaid anon." 

The almighty permits you to have children, with- 
out any security for a continued possession. Be 
thankful for them while you enjoy them. Be hum- 
ble and resigned when he comes and calls for them. 
It was a noble saying of one of the ancients upon 
the tidings of his son's death, " I knew that I begat 
a mortal." If then he takes your offspring away 
in infancy or childhood, let this thought comfort 
you, that it is to render them more happy than you 
17 



194 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

could make them. He takes them from a world of 
sin to a world of satisfaction. They are taken from 
being dandled upon the knee, to be cherished in his 
bosom. The gems are taken from your cabinet to 
be brilliantly set in the Saviour's mediatorial crown. 
The great and good husbandman transplants them 
from an earthly soil to the heavenly paradise, where 
they will flourish in undecaying beauty and immor- 
tal bloom. In heaven there may be taller — older — 
and more majestic plants, but none more fragrant 
and lovely than those dear babes, 

" Who died, for Adam sinn'd 

" But live, for Jesusdied.* # 

Comfort, therefore, yourselves, ye bereaved pa- 
rents, under the loss of your children, whether at 
the birth, in infancy, in childhood or in youth ; and 
say " Behold he taketh away, and who shall hin- 
der." Contemplate the pleasure of meeting them 
again, and spending an eternity together in singing 
the praises of God and the Lamb, through whose 

* These lines are taken from the following well-known but 
beautiful epitaph upon four infants ; supposed to have been 
written by the late Mr. Robinson, of Cambridge. 
" Bold Infidelity, turn pale and die, 
" Beneath this stone four infants' ashes lie; 

" Say, are they lost or saved 1 ? 
" If heaven's by works — in heaven they can't appear, 
" If death's by sin — they sinn'd, for they lie here. 

" Reason, ah ! how deprav'd : 
" Revere the Bible's sacred page, the knot's untied, 
" They died, for Adam sinn'd — they live, for Jesus died." 






OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 195 

love and merits alone you and your infant seed 
attain to such an elevation of glory and felicity. 

Although mothers have been principally address- 
ed in the preceding pages, yet Fathers and Hus- 
bands are interested, and deeply so in every thing 
stated upon the subject. If there be that affection 
in husbands which ought to exist toward those so 
nearly allied to them, they will be particularly con- 
cerned in the safety and comfort of those who are 
more essential and valuable than they are some- 
times disposed to admit ; and this has been exempli- 
fied in those circumstances to which allusion has 
been made. Many have been taught the value of 
their partners by their loss — when called upon to 
act toward a rising family, as it were, in the double 
capacity of father and mother. At all times ought 
there to be those attentions, and habitual expres- 
sions of sincere affection, without which domestic 
life is a mere negative happiness ; but especially when 
placed in circumstances of domestic anxiety and 
fear. The spirits of females at such a period are 
often depressed — the mind is particularly suscepti- 
ble — and painfully alive to any inattention on the 
part of one to whom they have reason to look with 
confidence for sympathy, support, advice, and pro- 
tection. Greatly does it relieve the mind to meet 
with affectionate attentions from their partners. 
They have a right to claim them — and accept them: 
and it is the duty of husbands to offer them cheer- 



196 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

fully and uniformly. Not to do this would be un- 
manly — unchristian — and brutal. It would be a 
species of unkindness and injustice, dishonourable 
and degrading to one who bears the name of hus- 
band : yet alas ! too often are these attentions want- 
ing. When sympathy is most desired and needed, 
it is often most denied. The depression of spirits, 
and the various infirmities experienced in the pros- 
pect of trial, excite in some cases any thing but a 
proper feeling ; but at such a time, the least inatten- 
tion, the smallest act of unkindness, is doubly cruel. 
Let the man remember, that in this trying situation 
the woman is the sufferer, and that he can in no 
other way bear the burden, or alleviate the sorrow, 
than by tenderly feeling for, and sympathizing with 
her ; rendering her situation as happy and easy as 
possible; cheering her fainting heart by showing 
that he does not consider himself an indifferent or 
uninterested spectator ; assuring her of his readiness 
to bear all that he possibly can; and these at- 
tentions and kindnesses will be doubly valuable — 
because doubly needed. If there should be a family, 
let as much care and exertion be taken from the 
female as circumstances will permit. An easy and 
tranquil mind is desirable at such a period, in a 
physical as well as moral point of view ; and a hus- 
band has never a finer opportunity of displaying 
his domestic character and qualities, and proving 
that he is worthy the name he bears, than when his 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 197 

partner is anxiously looking forward to this trial of 
life. 

As much of his society should be given as possi- 
ble. How can a Christian parent reconcile his 
mind to an absence from home when the trial takes 
place, or immediately before or afterwards ? Impe- 
rious and evident necessity alone could justify it. 
And in such a case of necessity, a feeling, worthy, 
and pious husband would consider it rather an ad- 
dition to the domestic affliction ; because such a 
circumstance must be regretted by the female. The 
thought that her dearest earthly friend, companion, 
and counsellor is not at hand, cannot fail to be de- 
pressing. Beside there is a pleasure afforded to the 
mother — a very laudable gratification of presenting, 
as soon as circumstances will permit, the little 
stranger to its parent ; and to receive the kind looks 
— the affectionate sympathies — and sincere congra- 
tulations of her partner. These have a tendency to 
cheer the spirits, and a man that has no heart to 
feel, and offer these, loses the name of husband. I 
have known instances of the greatest inattention, 
and have seen the painful effects produced upon a 
feeling and susceptible heart ; and such instances 
of neglect towards those whom they are bound by 
every tie to love, and in the marriage vow promised 
to cherish and protect, will some time or other 
create a pang, worse, infinitely worse, than that 
which is so thoughtlessly and cruelly inflicted upon 
17* 



198 A COMPANION FOR THE SEASON 

the tender heart of a neglected but deserving female. 
The attentions of the nurse, — the ability of the phy- 
sician, are not sufficient, though necessary at this 
season. The kindness and care of a husband are 
needful to comfort the mind ; and the comfort of the 
mind has a great effect upon the state of the body. 
If such a course of conduct as I have been exposing 
and reprobating has a tendency to distress the heart, 
it must agitate and injure the body at such a time 
of debility. In general there is a great deal felt 
when the female is afflicted. It is an anxious time 
with the husband and wife. Let the pious husband 
cheer the mind of his partner by reminding her of 
God's mercy, power and faithfulness, the extent of 
the divine promises ; or by reading to her those 
things which are adapted to comfort and strengthen 
the heart. And especially let her be much inte- 
rested in his fervent intercessions at the footstool of 
mercy. Let him pray for her safety and comfort. 
When she is well, she is a help meet to him by her 
kindness and attention, now she is ill he should be 
a help meet to her by his fervent prayers. He 
should never bend the knee without earnestly sup- 
plicating God's blessing upon her— or without pray- 
ing for the life, health, and perfect formation of the 
infant. While she is in agony of body, he should 
agonize in mind. When the anxious period arrives, 
he should prostrate himself before the throne of 
grace, and not rise until it is said, Unto you a child 



OP MATERNAL SOLICITUDE. 199 

is born — The mother and child are safe ; and then 
should he rise and bless the God of his mercies. It 
will tend to comfort the mind of the female, to call 
to remembrance that there are two praying for her 
that her " faith fail not." A husband on earth — a 
High Priest in heaven — both touched with the feel- 
ing of her infirmities. And while she has one In- 
tercessor above and one below, she surely may trust 
and be not afraid. God has promised always to 
hear the former, and with respect to the latter he 
has said " the prayer of faith shall save the sick." 

It has thus been endeavoured, for the benefit of 
the more interesting part of the human race, to illus- 
trate briefly a subject confessedly of great moment 
in domestic life. I have placed before the view of 
females the consequences of the fall, as particularly 
affecting their situation when they become mothers : 
pointed out the most prominent sources of comfort 
and support, stated the duties and obligations of 
those whom God has restored, and on whom he 
has bestowed an offspring ; and suggested a few 
thoughts to the different characters who may be 
concerned in the subject. And I have only to pray 
that the Divine Spirit may render what has been 
written a blessing to the soul ; and all the glory 
shall be to the Father of mercies and God of all 
grace. 



APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING 

HINTS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE NURSERY. 

Next in importance to the moral and spiritual 
interests of ourselves, and those immediately con- 
nected with us in the dearest bonds of nature, is un- 
questionably an attention to the health of the body. 
To use all the means within our reach to promote 
or preserve a healthy state of the animal frame ; or to 
prolong, in subserviency to the appointments of the 
great arbiter of our lives, that existence which may 
be shortened by the neglect of suitable means, or 
the employment of improper ones, is the duty of 
every rational creature. It is taken for granted that 
conscientious parents feel a lively interest in the 
temporal as well as moral condition of their children 
— that their bodies as well as their souls solicit a 
portion of their careful attentions and anxious soli- 
citude. What is a greater source of gratification, of 
an earthly nature at least, than for parents to see 
around them a blooming, well-formed, and healthy 
family ; and what is a greater source of comfort and 
advantage to the children themselves ? It is a bless- 
ing, the possession of which cannot be too highly 
prized, and the loss of which cannot be compensated. 



APPENDIX, 

nor too deeply deplored. And though we admit, 
that in the attempt to preserve and improve the 
bodily health of the dear children committed to the 
parental charge, all will be in vain without the bless- 
ing of Him " in whom we live, and move, and have 
our being," and who can, according to his own will 
and pleasure, resume the health and take the life he 
has bestowed, yet it is the duty of all to act upon 
any suggestions which may appear likely to per- 
petuate that health and prolong that life. 

It is not the design of the writer of these pages to 
enter minutely into the medical treatment of chil- 
dren — this would be out of his province, and beyond 
his ability ; his remarks will bear more upon the 
general management of children by mothers and 
nurses. The hints which may be given respecting the 
treatment of children in the nursery are not uncon- 
nected, it is presumed, with the moral and religious 
portion of this volume. If God has bestowed upon 
parents the precious boon of an infant, how can 
they attest more suitably their sense of its value — 
their obligation for its bestowment — or their attach- 
ment to their gift, than by regarding all its interests 
both in time and eternity — by promoting its com- 
fort and happiness in the present world, as well as 
that which is to come. 

It would be well if every mother were a nurse to 
her offspring. But alas ! there are some, who, with- 
out any reason but their own indolence, or the in- 



APPENDIX. 203 

duigdnce in other scenes and occupations, unnatu- 
rally assign the care of their infants to other hands ; 
if not to strangers, at least to persons who, whatever 
may be their boasted skill as nurses, can never 
manage like a parent. Will they care for the health 
or comfort of the child ? Will they attend with the 
anxiety of a mother to the food, the clothing, and 
the cleanliness of their charge ? Are not many infants 
hurried into another world, through the criminal and 
unnatural practice of some parents, in transferring 
them to the management, or rather mismanagement 
of nurses or domestic servants ? 

A mother should always be found in the nursery 
with her infant offspring — it ought to be her ele- 
ment — her pleasure, as it is unquestionably her duty 
and interest. What so likely to afford satisfactory 
retrospection, to secure the affectionate attachment 
of her children, and to gain for them the richest ad- 
vantages, physical, mental, and religious. It may 
not be according to the manners and maxims of 
fashionable and refined society ; it may be consider- 
ed by some who are intent only upon the follies and 
gaieties of high life, and can spare no time from 
the promenade, the dinner party, the theatre, the 
ball-room, and the consequent indulgence in rest the 
former part of the subsequent day, to attend to such 
domestic duties, as beneath them to go into the nur- 
sery, to suckle an infant, or to dress and undress it. 
They can hire a nurse of preat abilities in this de- 



204 APPENDIX. 

partment, and servants to assist, and why should 
they, while these duties can be performed for them 
by hirelings, trouble themselves or sacrifice their 
pleasures ! But if this attention to the duties of the 
nursery, and the personal and maternal superin- 
tendence of infants be not according to fashion, they 
are perfectly agreeable to reason — to nature — to 
feeling — to propriety, and to morality. Willingly, 
and without absolute necessity, to abandon the 
management of children to the care of others, is not 
only uniparental, but inhuman. Let such parents 
learn a lesson from the instinctive attachment, and 
assiduous care of animals in the inferior parts of the 
creation. They abandon not their young till their 
superintendence is no longer wanted. What says the 
prophet, "Even the sea-monsters draw out the breast, 
they give suck to their young ones," Lam. iv. 3. Ah ! 
how lamentable that monsters should teach mothers 
a lesson of parental care. " Many advantages" says 
a medical writer, " would arise to society, as well as 
to individuals, from mothers suckling their own off- 
spring. It would prevent the temptation which poor 
women are laid under of abandoning their own 
children, to- suckle those of the rich for the sake of 
gain, by which means society loses many of its most 
useful members, and mothers become in some sense, 
the murderers of their babes. I am sure I speak 
within the truth when I say, that not one in twenty 
of those children live who are thus abandoned by 



APPENDIX. 205 

their mothers. For this reason, no mother should 
be allowed to suckle another child, till her own is 
either dead, or fit to be weaned. A regulation of 
this kind would save many lives among the poorer 
sort, and could do no hurt to the rich, as most wo- 
men who make good nurses are able to suckle two 
children successively upon the same milk." 

The neglect which is here reprobated is not of 
modern origin ; indeed, so long as sin has been in 
the world, so long could instances be found of cruel 
and unnatural practices toward children by their 
parents. Some from the effect of a false religion have 
sacrificed their offspring ; some to avoid detection 
and shame, when guilty connexions have been 
formed, have destroyed life in their infants. And 
some, by being drawn away by the allurements of 
worldly pleasure, have been guilty of incipient mur- 
der at least, in withholding from their children the 
most natural sustenance and necessary care. " Can 
a woman forget her sucking child, that she should 
not have compassion upon the son of her womb- 
yea, she vnay forget." Tacitus, the celebrated Roman 
historian, complains greatly of the Roman ladies in 
his time, with regard to the care of their offspring. 
He said, " in former times the greatest women in 
Rome used to account it their chief glory to keep the 
house, and attend their children, but that now the 
young infant was committed to the sole care of some 
poor Grecian wench, or other menial servant." 
18 



206 APPENDIX. 

We readily admit, that some mothers are inca- 
pable, however willing and anxious, to suckle their 
children. From physical causes it would be either 
impracticable or injurious ; though this inability 
may in some cases be superinduced by improper and 
injurious habits of mothers. The use of ardent 
spirits, the want of regular air and exercise, negli- 
gence in attending to the quality and quantity of 
food, &c. In no cases ought ardent spirits to be 
administered during the season of confinement, 
though instances are not rare where this pernicious 
practice is indulged in. Indeed it is decidedly inju- 
rious to females, both previously and subsequently 
to their confinement. 

If it be necessary, through debility of constitution, 
or deficiency of milk, to employ a nurse, the greatest 
care is requisite in the selection of a suitable one. 
She should be healthy in constitution, cleanly in her 
person, temperate in her habits, mild and affectionate 
in her disposition, conscientious in her principles, 
and virtuous in her conduct. More particularly 
should the character and qualifications of a nurse 
be strictly investigated, if the child be placed away 
from the parental roof. Frequent visits should be 
made, and the treatment narrowly watched j for it 
is not to be expected that a paid nurse should give 
the same attention to the child of another as to her 
own, or feel the same affection for it. The impor- 
tance of selecting a healthy person for a nurse, was 



APPENDIX. 207 

impressed upon the mind of the writer by an in- 
stance which recently occurred in his own family 
connexions. An infant whose parent was unable to 
suckle it was put out to nurse, when it was disco- 
vered afterwards that the young woman was afflicted 
with a scrofulous complaint. The dear infant im- 
bibed the disease. It drew in the dreadful disorder 
with the milk ; symptoms of scrofula appeared, and 
the writer saw the little sufferer in the house of Dr. 
Whitlaw, Finsbury Place, Moorfields, where it was 
placed for the benefit of his deservedly popular me- 
dicated baths. Nor is conscientious principle less 
requisite. It is a common practice with hired nurses 
to give soothing medicines or drugs to the child, if 
it should be restless and cross. There is a great 
temptation even in parents to have recourse to such 
soporifics ; how much stronger is the inducement to 
administer them, with hired nurses, who not having 
any natural affection for the children intrusted to 
them, bear with less patience their uneasiness and 
crying, whether arising from wayward temper, or 
the effects of indisposition ; and if a child be cross, 
the cause of it will not be very minutely inquired 
into by hirelings ; the great object is to still the child 
as soon as possible and make it sleep, that they may 
sleep themselves, or attend without much interrup- 
tion to other domestic occupations ; and in some 
instances they have given the little innocent rather 
too long a sleep, so that there has been no prospect 



208 APPENDIX. 

of its awaking till the archangel's trump shall 
arouse it. And if the child cannot be quieted by 
this means, many nurses and servants will frighten 
it into quietness.* Attention to the health of chil- 
dren, whether under the superintendence of mothers 
or nurses, is of greater moment than many are aware 
of ; there are two very strong reasons for this case. 
In the first place, because the state of the body pos- 
sesses a very considerable influence on the mind and 
morals of the children as they grow up. The mind 
and body are intimately, though mysteriously con- 
nected in the economy of our nature. They exercise 
a reciprocal influence over each other. The mind 
affects the bodily health and formation, and the body 
materially affects the dispositions and habits of the 
mental structure. It is essential to bear this in mind 
in nursery training. It is there the habits both 
of the body and mind are to be formed or regulated. 
It is in this early stage of existence that the mental 
faculties develop themselves, at the same time the 
physical powers advance ; and should there be dis- 

* The practice of maids and nurses telling children horrible 
stories about ghosts and hobgoblins, in order to frighten them 
into obedience to their wishes, cannot be too severely reprobated. 
Many a child has been injured in its mind and spirits for years 
by this abominable practice. I have known children who have- 
screamed out at the very thought of being put or left in a dark 
room. Parents should narrowly watch domestics in this respect ; 
and no female ought to remain a day in the house who would 
adopt such an unwarrantable method. 



APPENDIX. 209 

ease or malformation of the body, great weakness 
and debility of the outward frame, culpable neglect 
in attending to cleanliness and suitable nutriment, 
the mind must suffer. How much of that mental 
imbecility, as well as bodily impotency, which some 
of our fellow-creatures discover as they advance in 
life, may be attributed to neglect in infancy. The 
tempers and dispositions of children, as well as their 
intellectual powers, are considerably affected by the 
mode of treatment adopted toward them when under 
the nurse's care. Many a child has been rendered 
dull, fretful, irritable, and ill-tempered ; who if a dif- 
ferent mode of management had been adopted, would 
in all probability have discovered cheerfulness, mild- 
ness, and contentedness of spirit. Nothing will tend 
more to injure the dispositions of children, than a 
neglect of their persons. Want of cleanliness, im- 
proper diet and clothing, unnecessary and long con- 
finement to the house, and harsh treatment will 
superinduce disease; and disease will soon show 
itself, not merely in the emaciated countenance, and 
debilitated frame, but in weakness of intellect, and 
irritability and peevishness of temper. 

But not merely is it important to attend to the 
proper management of infants, on account of the 
powerful effects the body has upon the mind, but 
because it is in infancy that the foundation of a good 
or bad constitution is often laid. Many of those who 
have managed to struggle through the period of in- 
18* 



210 APPENDIX. 

fancy and childhood, but are crippled, deformed, and 
debilitated, may trace the origin of these afflictions 
to neglect of parents or nurses during the first two 
or three years of their existence. They were brought 
into the world healthy and strong, but disorders 
were created which ultimately terminated in prema- 
ture dissolution. And when infants are born appa- 
rently delicate and weakly, by the adoption of suit- 
able means, by careful and judicious nursing, their 
constitutions will improve ; they will, to use a com- 
mon expression, outgrow their infantile complaints, 
and become strong and vigorous. Thus a healthy 
infant may become a feeble youth, and a feeble in- 
fant a healthy one, according to the attention paid 
to them during this important period. The author 
does not mean to say, that all the diseases which 
affect adults are traceable to neglect in infancy, or 
that the healthy state of body in robust persons, is 
entirely dependant upon proper management of 
them during their infancy ; for this would be to 
assert that the Almighty did not interfere in afflict- 
ing mankind with diseases, nor interpose his power 
in preserving our health, or restoring it when lost, 
but he simply means to affirm, what few will be 
disposed to deny, that means are to be used for the 
prevention and remedy of the disorders incident to 
the human frame ; that these means are, through 
the divine blessing, successful in the greater number 
of instances ; and on the other hand, that the neg- 



APPENDIX. 211 

lect of these means will be seen in the most dismal 
and distressing effects upon the physical, mental, 
and moral constitution of man. 

To promote the health and comfort of children, 
an attention to four things is necessary ; first, clean- 
liness. This is essential to health, whether in chil- 
dren or adults, more especially in the former. How 
many parents are negligent in this branch of nursery 
management. Its importance is not sufficiently felt 
by mothers, particularly among the poorer classes of 
society. This neglect must arise either from their 
indolence, or their ignorance, for, to keep the body 
wholesome by outward application of water, costs 
but little either of time or money. Yet if you go into 
many houses, you will see children, whose faces and 
hands are almost strangers to the cheap and purify- 
ing element. The pores of the body are seldom 
cleansed from the impurity which arises from per- 
spiration, or from the dirt and filth externally con- 
tracted. 

At this time of life the skin is soft and easily in- 
jured, which circumstance shows the necessity of 
keeping it free from all impurities, which if permitted 
to remain, would engender many cutaneous diseases, 
as well as injure materially the general state of the 
health. It is an obvious truth, that whatever obstructs 
perspiration obstructs health, and affects more or less 
all the functions of the animal economy. The skin is 
more connected with the internal structure of the 



212 APPENDIX, 

human body than many people are aware of, so that 
it is impossible to neglect the former without injur- 
ing the latter. This opinion is corroborated by the 
fact that epidemics and infectious diseases are pre- 
valent chiefly among those whose houses, persons, 
and habits are filthy. When children are not at- 
tended to in this respect, should they be seized 
with contagious diseases, it will be found to go much 
harder with them, than with those who are kept 
habitually clean. 

The application of cold water to the surface ot 
children's bodies, may be supposed by some timid 
and indulgent mothers extremely dangerous, but to 
this practice they will soon be accustomed. The 
cold bath has been found very serviceable to many 
children, though when this is adopted, care should 
be taken that the transition should not be too great 
at first, and regard must also be had to the constitu- 
tion of the child, and the season of the year. It is one 
of those means of health which, like many other 
things useful in their nature, cannot be applied to 
all persons and at all times indiscriminately without 
injury. In the summer season copious ablution and 
plunging the body into cold water may safely be 
practised ; the effect will not only be to cleanse the 
body, but to brace the system, and give a healthy 
action and tone to the varied parts. 

The next thing to be attended to is Clothing. 
The use of clothing, as nature itself dictates, is for 



APPENDIX. 213 

decency, and to preserve the body from the effects 
of cold, and those changes in the atmosphere to 
which it is exposed. Nothing requires more care 
and judgment than this department of maternal 
occupation ; and upon this subject many errors 
prevail, some of them fatal to the health, and often 
to the life of the infant. The great difficulty, but 
the principal object which a mother ought to have 
in view, is to avoid extremes. In the clothes of 
infants three things should be mainly attended to. 
The first is the quantity. This should be regu- 
lated according to circumstances, such as the sea- 
son of the year, the age of the child, and the state 
of the constitution — moderate warmth is princi- 
pally to be regarded. Cold is very unfriendly to 
the health of an infant ; and warm clothing, espe- 
cially in the first stage of its existence, is essentially 
necessary. The transition is great from its previous 
abode in the mother's womb to the atmosphere of a 
room, however warm. To introduce a newly born 
infant to a very reduced temperature of air must 
prove injurious, though it is not necessary, on the 
other hand, to take it to a blazing fire. Warm 
clothing, and the natural heat of the mother's 
breast, are the most congenial and natural. Mo- 
thers to avoid one extreme run upon another 
equally injurious ; they are convinced, and very 
reasonably so, that the health of the child is pro- 
moted by the free and unobstructed respiration of 



214 APPENDIX. 

pure air, and that many children have suffered, and 
some been suffocated, by being wrapped up in half 
a dozen folds of thick flannel, which if it has not 
stopped its breathing, has considerably affected the 
health by producing too great a degree of perspira- 
tion, so as to render it liable to get cold when ex- 
posed to the air afterwards. This danger has led 
some mothers to adopt a plan not less dangerous, 
The child has been transferred in its tender state 
from the bosom of its mother to a cold crib or side- 
bed, where it has suffered from too cold a tempera- 
ture ; where there has not only not been sufficient 
heat, but what has been obtained has not been of 
the most natural and genial kind. These remarks 
apply to infants at the breast ; as they advance, of 
course, they can do without that warmth which a 
mother's bosom affords. 

But while it is necessary that clothing should be 
afforded sufficient to maintain a suitable degree of 
warmth and prevent the effects of cold, care should 
be taken that children are not overloaded. The 
fear of their getting cold, and thus putting garment 
upon garment, enough to clothe a couple of child- 
ren at least, has led to very injurious consequences. 
Allusion has already been made to the excessive use 
of flannel, in which the infant's head and body are 
wrapped round and round, and laid in a warm cra- 
dle, there to waste its strength by forced perspira- 
tion, independent of the great uneasiness the little 



APPENDIX. 215 

creature must suffer while so smothered up. Every 
infant has some degree of fever after its birth, and 
the excessive loading it with flannel clothing must 
have a tendency greatly to increase the feverish 
symptoms. In addition to this, the child is laid in 
bed with its mother, who is also feverish herself; 
nor is it an uncommon practice for wine and other 
heating things to be given to the child. Is it won- 
derful, under all these circumstances, that fever, red 
gum, and various other disorders, which place the 
life of the child in jeopardy, should be experienced? 
But the practice of keeping infants too hot is dan- 
gerous, on account of their subsequent exposure to 
a colder air. They are sometimes sent from home 
to be nursed, — perhaps into the country for the 
sake of the salubriousness of the air, — but here 
every thing is colder, the atmosphere, the house, 
<fcc; and beside, less care will probably be taken to 
keep the child as warm as it has commonly been. 
Thus the health, instead of improving, suffers ; vio- 
lent colds are caught, and a foundation laid for the 
most fatal disorders. In clothing, therefore, let the 
quantity be moderate. 

The second thing to be attended to is the pressure 
of those clothes upon the body ; or the method of 
dressing infants and children. It must be borne in 
mind, that nature has formed the body of an infant 
so delicately, that it is liable to a thousand injuries 
from external causes, which do not affect, to the 



216 APPENDIX. 

same degree, the outward frame in its maturity. 
The skin is tender and the bones supple, the joints 
possess great power of flexion and extension, the 
muscles are soft and vascular, (full of vessels) the 
glands numerous, the arteries large and irritable, the 
brain soft and less defended by the skull bone, and 
the nerves weak ; beside which, new motions of the 
body commence ; such as the circulation of the 
whole mass of blood through the lungs, respiration, 
action of the bowels, &c. Indeed an infant has been 
fitly compared to a bundle of soft pipes, or fine ves- 
sels. It is through these vessels the most important, 
and essential fluids of the body pass — and must pass 
without obstruction, or disease will be the inevitable 
result. A human body so constituted evidently re- 
quires assiduous care, as it is so susceptible of injury ; 
and if mothers were to follow the example of nature, 
rather than the injurious and foolish dictates of art, 
fashion, or custom, there would be fewer of those 
complaints which occasion so much painful anxiety 
to the parental mind. Before the infant is placed 
under the care of the mother, or dressed by the 
nurse, it is surrounded by nature with a soft fluid, 
lest its tender frame should receive any injury by 
pressure upon its external parts. But the modern 
art of dressing is any thing but the following of 
either nature or reason ; and nothing could be in- 
vented more successfully to impede the growth — 
deteriorate the powers- -check the circulation of the 



APPENDIX. 217 

blood — and engender a train of dreadful maladies. 
Strict attention should be paid by mothers to this 
subject, both on account of the health and comfort 
of the child. The numerous bandages and swathes 
with which some little creatures are encircled, or 
rather bound up, as if every limb had been fractured, 
or every joint dislocated, must be injurious to the 
health. Instances have been known of children 
dying soon after the birth in convulsions ; these 
have sometimes proceeded from improper conduct 
on the part of mothers and nurses. An instance is 
recorded of an infant being seized with convulsion 
fits as soon as the midwife had done swaddling it — 
which, upon taking off the rollers and bandages was 
immediately relieved, and never had the disease 
afterwards. 

The attempt to improve nature by art is at once 
ridiculous and dangerous. What, in too many in- 
stances, is the object of binding up the body so tight ; 
is it not that the child may look nicely, feel firm and 
stiff, and that its shape may be properly formed? 
But surely there is no shape so beautiful as that 
which is produced by the skilful and plastic hand of 
dame nature, who is always the best nurse, and the 
best dresser. Besides, frequently the very attempt to 
improve the shape, and assist the growth of the 
body, is the very way to counteract the design. 
Close and unequal pressure upon a frame so deli- 
cate as that of an infant, not only obstructs the cir 
19 



218 APPENDIX. 

culation of the fluids of the body, but prevents the 
equal distribution of nutriment to the different parts 
of the system ; and so that it necessarily follows that 
the growth of the infant must be unequal — in other 
words deformed. The part that is free from this 
unnatural pressure grows in a regular and healthy 
manner, while the parts that sustain the pressure 
must be so far cramped as to produce a great, dispro- 
portion in the different parts of the body. They are 
more wise in this respect in the more uncultivated 
regions of the world ; they manage their children 
better in many things, and simply because they fol- 
low the dictates of nature. On the coast of Africa 
the children are without clothes, no bandage what- 
ever is applied ; but they are laid upon a pallet, and 
suffered to tumble about at pleasure quite unconfined, 
yet they are not mis-shapen, nor unhealthy, but quite 
the contrary. It is a well known fact that there are 
more deformed bodies among the polished and civil- 
ized nations of the earth, than among the rude and 
barbarous tribes of the human race. Indeed, in- 
stances are rare among the latter : and may not this 
be attributed to the freedom with which they are 
allowed to use their limbs in infancy, by having the 
full use of every organ of the body, and being fre- 
quently bathed in cold water. " In Canada, Vir- 
ginia, the Brazils, and other American provinces, 
(says an author) the children are generally laid 
naked on raw cotton, in hammocks, or cradles 



APPENDIX. 219 

covered with fur. In Peru, children are placed with 
a few clothes around them, in shallow pits dug in 
the earth. In some parts of North America, infants 
are generally laid upon couches filled with the dust 
of worm-eaten timber ; this simple contrivance an- 
swers the useful purpose of keeping them dry and 
cleanly, as the powdered wood absorbs all the mois- 
ture. When they are able to move, the solicitous 
mother excites them to meet her, by presenting the 
food appointed by nature. Thus it is almost incon- 
ceivable, that little savages at the tender age of a 
few months, especially in Africa, should possess such 
strength and agility as to embrace the waist of the 
mother with their arms and legs, without the least 
fear, and imbibe the maternal gift while she is en- 
gaged in fatiguing pursuits. In that country it is 
truly astonishing to see infants two months old 
creeping about, and others somewhat older, walking 
upon their hands and knees, almost as speedily as 
adults." The practice here referred to, cannot be 
literally followed in this country, but the facts stated 
prove the necessity and advantage of allowing in- 
fants the freedom of their limbs ; and nothing should 
be applied in the shape of clothing, that will in any 
way obstruct the growth of the outward frame, or 
affect the healthy motions of the internal structure. 
Not only do we learn the absurdity and injury of 
attempting to improve the health and shape of the 
infant by bandaging, by a reference to uncivilized 



220 APPENDIX. 

nations, but also from the animal creation. How- 
rare is a case of deformity among them, because 
their young are allowed the unrestrained use of their 
limbs, and the free circulation of the fluids of the 
body. Many of these animals when they come into 
the world are delicate, yet they grow strong, healthy 
and proportionable ; they want no swaddling bands, 
no rollers, nor several feet of swatheing, nor art of 
any kind to improve their form, give them a fine 
shape, or prevent the different parts of the body from 
coming asunder. How absurd would it be, if a far- 
mer were to get a dozen yards of bandaging and 
wind round a colt or a calf, in order to strengthen 
it, and give it a beautiful shape. Common sense 
tells him that neither its health nor form could 
be improved by such a process. Then why try the 
experiment upon human beings ? Unquestionably 
the best shape is that which nature forms in all liv- 
ing creatures. 

The extreme length, too, of an infant's clothes is 
a decided injury, as by their weight they are liable 
to produce deformity in the feet and legs, as well as 
being a source of great uneasiness to the child. 

The comfort, as well as the health of the child, 
should lead the mother to avoid all pressure by 
tight swatheing, and fitting of the clothes. Consult 
the feelings of infants ; do not their very looks tell 
the mother not to bind it so tight, not to press it so 
hard, not to confine it so much : they cannot, em- 



APPENDIX. 221 

body their feelings in words ; they can only convey 
the sense of pain and uneasiness which they feel by 
crying and restlessness. And as one observes, 
" When a child is cramped, or hurt by its clothes, it 
naturally shrinks from the part affected, and by put- 
ting its body into unnatural postures, it becomes de- 
formed by habit." And mothers must have noticed 
the comfort and pleasure which it feels when it is 
mercifully, though momentarily freed from its un- 
natural ligaments. See how it enjoys the freedom 
of its limbs, how it enjoys its temporary liberty, like 
a prisoner escaped from its fetters ; how it welcomes 
the unobstructed respiration of its tender lungs. 
Why interrupt these enjoyments? Why injure the 
health by improper dressing ? by the foolish idea 
that their bodies want strengthening and shaping by 
bandages, stays, or tight clothing. How much in- 
jury to the constitution has been sustained by adult 
ladies — and in some cases life been sacrificed — by 
the absurd practice of tight lacing, in order to im- 
prove their shape. And if such pressure be so inju- 
rious and fatal when the body is strong and matured, 
how great must be the injury which a delicate in 
fant sustains by unnecessary pressure. 

Care should also be taken that the clothes should 
be kept clean and frequently changed ; for, inde- 
pendent of this being agreeable to the sight and 
smell, it contributes greatly to the health of the 
child. Perspiration is essential to health, as it car- 
19* 



222 APPENDIX. 

ries off from the body superfluous and impure hu- 
mours, which otherwise would engender many 
diseases. This object is greatly promoted by the 
frequent changes of the linen and clothes. Chil- 
dren perspire more than adults ; this very fact shows 
the importance of their clothes being more fre- 
quently changed. A neglect in this respect would 
injure the skin of the infant — produce offensive 
smells and vermin ; beside, as already observed, lead 
to more serious consequences, in decided disease. 

Let mothers, then, if they wish to preserve their 
infant offspring from deformity, distress, disease, and 
death, assiduously attend to the hints thrown out 
"respecting the clothing of their children ; for though 
they cannot save life or health, when it is the will 
of God to take it away, yet it is the duty of mothers 
to use all likely means for their preservation. 

The next object to which the especial attention of 
mothers should be solicited, is the administration 
of food. That food is most suitable, because the 
most nutritious, which is most natural. And the 
most natural food for infants, is that which is derived 
from the mother's breast. Many things have been 
substituted for this, but they have not answered the 
purpose ; for however infants may seem to thrive 
upon other food for a few months, they are seldom 
found so healthy in constitution ; and beside, they 
are less able to stand against those complaints which 
axe incident to this period, such as measles, hooping 



APPENDIX. 223 

cough, teething, &c. Nature prompts the new-born 
infant to seek and love the breast ; and it is its suita- 
ble and supporting aliment. And suckling has a 
double advantage, it benefits both the mother and 
child — the former in preventing inflammation of the 
breasts, fevers, and other complaints to which they 
are liable at this important crisis — the latter, in its 
clearing and nourishing effects. Many nurses or 
mid wives, immediately on the appearance of the 
child, have recourse to syrups, decoctions, oils, &c, 
whether necessary or not, (and generally they are 
not, as the mother's milk is the most cheering ;) but 
if any thing medicinal be necessary to cleanse the 
first passages, it ought to be very simple, and the 
nurse should not, as is too much the case, make the 
infant sick by cramming it with drugs. Whatever 
is given to the infant in the shape of food, before it 
takes the breast, it should be free from wine, spirits, 
spices and drugs. A little pap or thin gruel, with 
a small quantity of milk, or water sweetened with 
sugar, is the most suitable. Wine is frequently 
mixed in the preparation of the food the infant first 
takes, but it should be remembered that a very small 
portion of wine is sufficient to inflame the blood of a 
tender infant, and as so many diseases proceed from 
hot and acrid humours, every thing of a stimulat- 
ing or heating nature ought to be carefully avoided. 
If a mother possesses milk enough for her child, 
it will seldom require any other food for a few 



224 APPENDIX. 

months ; and when necessary, it ought to be very 
light and digestible, such as pap, biscuit powder, 
baked flour, the inside of a loaf well boiled and beaten 
up with milk ; indeed the food should resemble as 
much as possible the simplicity of the natural food 
of the breast. In the preparation of food for children, 
as little sugar as possible should be used— indeed if 
the use of sugar were unknown in the nursery, 
it would be no disadvantage to children ; it has no 
other advantage but to please and gratify the palate, 
and this gratification if they never knew, they would 
never want. The digestive powers have often been 
injured by nurses in the attempt to render the food 
very pleasant, by the addition of a quantity of sugar. 
It has also the disadvantage of inducing them to 
eat more at a time than the stomach can well bear. 
I know mothers will dissent from the writer in this 
point, it is so cruel ! Yes, but it is more injurious to 
grant it, than cruel to deny it. How very common, but 
very censurable, it is for mothers to offer to their 
children that kind of food which their stomachs at 
this period are not prepared to digest. Animal food,, 
diluted spirits, beer and wines : these are very inju- 
rious during the season of lactation. It would be a 
sufficient rule for parents to give their children solid 
food, such as meat and vegetables, when they have 
teeth to masticate it. Nature is the best guide here 
as in all other cases. The reception of such mate- 
rials into the stomach produces flatulence, indiges- 



APPENDIX. 225 

tion, irritability of the nervous system, grossness of 
blood, fevers, acidity in the stomach, sickness, dis- 
orders in the viscera, and a variety of other com- 
plaints. And when children are capable of eating 
solid food, there should be a suitable mixture of ani- 
mal and vegetable matter ; too large a portion of the 
former will produce inflammatory symptoms — too 
much of the latter will occasion acidity. And when 
disorders are generated by Want of care in preparing 
and administering food, recourse must immediately 
be had to drugs, which, by being either unsuitable 
in their nature, or given in too large a quantity, 
makes the remedy worse than the disease. If im- 
proper food has slain its hundreds, " Godfrey's Cor- 
dial" has slain its thousands. The food to be 
avoided as being injurious to infants and children are 
high dried, or high seasoned meats, rich soups, but- 
ter, sugar, unripe fruits, stimulating spices, wine, 
beer and spirits. The practice of allowing children 
to drink spirits or any strong fermented liquors, is a 
dreadful evil. The habit of drinking spirits has laid, 
though parents have been unconscious of it at the 
time, the foundation of the most immoral habits. 
Let children get habituated to the taste of these 
liquors, and they will love them ; and as they grow 
up into life, instead of taking them medicinally, (the 
only way in which they ought ever to be taken) they 
will form a portion of their beverage, destructive 
alike to body and soul. If parents value the wel- 



226 APPENDIX. 

fare of their children, either in time or eternity, let 
them not know the taste or use of these deleterious 
drinks. The most suitable provision for children 
will be found to be (when the child can masticate) a 
small portion of meat — and broths — vegetables (if 
not too crude), pudding in a larger proportion than 
meat, milk, water that has been boiled, butter-milk, 
whey, and if made- wine, mixed with water. Honey 
will be found very useful — the use of it in many 
cases prevents worms, and many cutaneous diseases. 

But regard must not only be had to the quality, 
but also the quantity of food — here also extremes 
are to be avoided. Children are neither to be stuffed 
nor starved. If food is of a suitable kind, children 
will seldom take more than is necessary. If there 
be any excess it is owing to the imprudence of mo- 
thers or nurses, who never think their children have 
enough, and will actually cram them the same as 
they do turkeys ; and put sweet ingredients into their 
food to induce them to take more of it. If these little 
creatures are forced at all hours to take food, and 
that of an improper kind, it will be in vain to look 
for a healthy state, or regular growth of the body. 
The coats of the stomach will become^ distended, 
and children will acquire a habit, as they grow up, 
of taking more food than nature requires, or than 
they can possibly digest. 

But too little food should not be given, this is as 
injurious as too much. When a child is weaned it 



APPENDIX. 227 

may be fed four or five times a day ; but it should 
never be accustomed to take food in the night ; that 
is the time to rest, not to feed. The best rule for 
mothers to be guided by, in reference to feeding in- 
fants and very young children, is little and often. 
Extremes must be avoided, and it is difficult to say 
which is the more dangerous — redundancy or defi- 
ciency : many medical men are disposed to think the 
latter — for if the stomach be loaded, nature will re- 
lieve itself, but if too little nourishment be received 
into it, the constitution will be weakened, as the child 
advances to maturity. But after all, the quality of 
the food is of the most importance. 

The last thing to which the attention of mothers 
is directed, is the necessity of air and exercise. 
These it is humbly conceived are of more import- 
ance than any thing else. During the first period 
of existence the bones are soft, and nature prohibits 
the use of the limbs in walking. Air and exercise 
must be given to the child — they cannot take it. 
Allowing infants too soon to use their feet, in teaching 
them to walk is injurious. The practice of making 
children stand upon their legs, or walk before they 
have really strength so to do, has produced bandy 
legs, diseases in the spine, and rickets. Children 
know better when to begin to walk than nurses. 
When they are able, nature prompts them to it, and 
they will be sure to set their feet to the ground— 
and put them one before the other, and without 



228 APPENDIX. 

being drilled into it. The first kind of exercise given 
to a child, is that of being carried about in the 
nurse's arms-^but in doing this, great caution is 
necessary. It should be kept in an easy posture, and 
the position frequently changed. Deformity, and the 
use of the left hand, rather than the right, have re- 
sulted by neglect in this matter. Children's legs 
have been known to grow crooked by the nurse or 
mother carrying the child invariably on one arm. 
Children should be as little as possible upon the lap 
and knees, as this prevents the free exercise of the 
limbs. It is better for them to roll about upon a car- 
pet or mattress. This practice they adopt in India. 
" The Hindoo nurses," says an author, " manage 
admirably in this respect ; they let their children roll 
constantly upon the floor, or on a mat, and thus 
have very little trouble with them while young. 
The infants lie on their backs as quietly as turtles, 
and this merely because they have been accustomed 
to do so. Children under such nursing are said to 
be the finest in the world. They are seldom or ever 
in the arms, and when carried into a room to com- 
pany they are laid on a tray quite naked, and with 
only a piece of muslin thrown over their bodies. A 
lady who has been in India, said, that children when 
so nursed, acquired the use of their limbs much 
earlier than such as were brought up in a different 
manner, and in other countries. And it is desirable 
that a little motion should be given to the children 



APPENDIX. 22£ 

by nurses when exercising them. Merely being car- 
ried passively about in the nurse's arms is not suffi- 
cient ; they should be tossed and jumped about in 
the air, which practice quickens the circulation, and 
promotes the general health of the child. 

When the children begin to use their feet, the 
best way is to lead them about by their hands and 
arms. Leading strings, though easier to the nurse, 
are not so beneficial to the child. By the practice 
of leading strings the body is thrown too much for- 
ward — there is too great a pressure upon the breast 
and stomach — the breathing is liable to be obstruct- 
ed — the breasts flattened, and the bowels injured. 
Let the use of their legs be gradually acquired, ac- 
cording to the strength and desires of the child. 

But exercise should be given or taken as much 
as possible in the open air. In-door exercise has 
not half this advantage ; the pure air is very bene- 
ficial — indeed absolutely necessary to good health. 
In houses the air is seldom pure, not being suffi- 
ciently and carefully ventilated. The impure at- 
mosphere generated by noxious vapours constantly 
thrown off from the human body, or from those 
domestic occupations which are necessary to be 
engaged in, such as cooking — eating — drinking — 
sleeping, &c. is not sufficiently carried off. This 
impregnated air is breathed over and over again ; 
children confined amidst such impure exhalations,. 
can hardly be expected to exhibit rosy cheeks, 
20 



230 



APPENDIX. 



cheerful countenances, vivacious minds, or lovely 
tempers. If by any circumstances children cannot 
be taken into the fresh air, by all means let the 
fresh air come to them, by well ventilating all the 
rooms of the house ; let the enemy of health escape, 
and give an entrance to the best friend the consti- 
tution has, which is pure air. Let it be remem- 
bered by parents that children confined to close 
situations — unventilated houses — and who seldom 
have a draught of wholesome air, are far more 
likely to imbibe infectious diseases, and to suffer 
more fatally from them, than others who enjoy 
exercise in the open air. There is no time when 
a child may not safely take out-door exercise, ex- 
cept in wet weather, care being always taken that 
the clothing of the children be suitable to changes 
of the seasons, and the frequent vicissitudes of the 
atmosphere in this ever varying climate. They 
should not be wrapped in fur and flannel in sum- 
mer, nor clad in muslin robes in winter. But child- 
ren should not only be sent out into the air, but 
kept out a sufficient time. It is seldom that the 
child wishes for an immediate return to the impri- 
sonment and impurity of the room. The nurse will 
sooner be tired than the child ; the little creature 
always seems delighted and cheerful, as soon as 
ever it breathes the salubrious air of the garden or 
the field. The air operates in the most soothing 
manner upon it — as a proof of this, how soon is it 



APPENDIX. 231 

lulled to sleep by the gentle fanning of the refresh- 
ing breezes and the odoriferous exhalations around 
it. The most pleasurable sensations are imparted ; 
the air composes, strengthens, and refreshes, and in 
a hundred ways benefits the child. Mothers are 
often fearful of sending their children out, lest they 
should catch cold. If the wind be in the wrong 
quarter — if it be rather too high or too cold — if the 
sky looks lowering — perhaps there may be rain — so 
that the poor creature seldom enjoys this essential 
blessing. It is only when the wind is in the south, 
the atmosphere quite calm, and the sun shining, 
that it must venture out ; and then it must go only 
a little way, lest the sun should go in, and it should 
come on cold — and the child should get cold. But 
it could easily be proved by facts, that children get 
more colds by staying in the house than by going 
into the air ; for by going out so seldom, and being 
so much used to a close and warm temperature of a 
room, they can never experience a transition to a 
cooler atmosphere without getting some colds. Let 
children be accustomed to exercise in the air at all 
times, and colds will be rare things, and sallow 
complexions and sickly frames still more so. Look 
at the children of the poor who live in cottages on 
commons, moors, or open fields, or the wandering 
tribes of gipsy children, and compare their consti- 
tutions and countenances with those children who 
are confined to a warm, unventilated nursery, and 



232 APPENDIX. 

on whom the fresh air seldom breathes its healthy 
and refreshing influence, and the benefit of the 
exercise in the open air will he apparent. The 
strengthening of the lungs, the generation of appe- 
tite, the cheerfulness and elasticity of the animal 
spirits, the tendency to balmy repose, and indeed 
the promotion of the general health are among the 
advantages of giving suitable, sufficient, and sea- 
sonable air and exercise to children. 

The preceding remarks have been addressed to 
mothers, because they are most actively engaged, 
and intimately connected with nursery management. 
The duties of the nursery principally devolve upon 
the maternal head, but it would be a reflection upon 
fathers to suppose that they feel no interest in what 
is going forward in the interesting engagement 
alluded to. It is true that there are some gentlemen 
so little domestic in their habits, that they know 
little and care less as to what is going on in the 
nursery. Some probably think that is beneath them ; 
some that it would be unnecessary interference ; 
some take it for granted that all goes on well ; but 
it is neither degrading nor unnecessary ; it is an 
amiable feature in the paternal character to show an 
interest in the concerns of a family. It is an en- 
couragement to the mother ; it takes off some of the 
weight and responsibility of so important a matter 
as the management of the domestic concerns of a 
lamily. It is not beneath a king .o take a peep into 



APPENDIX. 233 

the nursery to see how the tender ones thrive ; to 
suggest hints for their cultivation. &c. It was said 
of George the Third, that he made a practice the 
first thing in the morning of going into the nursery 
to see his children, to receive their smiles, to give 
his blessing, to investigate their health and comfort, 
and to suggest improvement. It was said, also, of 
one of the Kings of France, (Henry IV), that a 
foreigner of distinction was suddenly introduced to 
him when he was romping with his children ; he 
was on all-fours, with one of his children upon his 
back going round the room. He turned round to 
the gentleman, and said, " are you a father ?" "Yes," 
said the stranger ; — " Then here we go, gee up," 
said the monarch, and finished his game of horse 
and rider. Who can see any thing in these instances 
derogatory to royalty ; the conduct was amiable, 
parental, noble, though not perhaps agreeable to the 
high notions of some, who think it a much nobler 
and more suitable employment for noblemen and 
and gentlemen to superintend a stud of horses, or a 
kennel of hounds. 

The author has thus thrown out a few hints for 
parents, in reference to the management of the nur- 
sery. He does not wish to force his opinions upon 
others, he only suggests what he thinks correct upon 
the subject. Parents must adopt their own plans, 
but if any thing has been advanced which may 
amend those they have formed and acted upon, the 



234 APPENDIX. 

writer will feel greatly delighted ; for though his 
principal object in this volume has been to promote 
the spiritual and moral interests of his readers, he 
thought it not irrelevant, not unimportant, to 
direct the attention of mothers to those subjects 
connected with the temporal welfare of their be- 
loved offspring, and he earnestly prays, in closing, 
that both with parents and children their bodies 
and soids may prosper and be in health. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

Success in Education depends, 

I. — More on Prevention than Cure ; more on 
securing our children from injury, than on forcing 
upon them what is right. If we wish, for instance, 
to render a child courageous, we shall effect it, not 
so much by urging and compelling him to feats of 
hardihood, as by guarding him from all impressions 
of terror, or from witnessing a weak and cowardly 
spirit in others. 

II. — On Example, rather than on Precept and 
Advice. 

As the bodies of children are imperceptibly 
affected by the air they breathe, so are their minds 
by the moral atmosphere which surrounds them; 
that is, the tone of character and general influence 
of those with whom they live. 



Appendix. 235 

III. — On forming Habits, rather than on incul- 
cating Rules. 

It is little to tell a child what to do ; we must 
show him how to do it, and see that it is done. 
It is nothing to enact laws, if we do not take care 
that they are put into practice, and adopted as 
habits. This is the chief business of education, 
and the most neglected; for it is more easy to 
command, than to teach and enforce. For exam- 
ple, a child will never know how to write by a 
set of rules however complete : the pen must be 
put into his hand, and the power acquired by 
repeated efforts and continued practice. 

IV. — On regulating our Conduct, with reference 
to the Formation of the Character when matured, 
rather than by confining our Views to the Imme- 
diate Effect of our Labor. 

Premature acquirements, premature quickness 
of mind, premature feeling, and even premature 
propriety of conduct, are not often the evidences of 
real strength of character, and are rarely followed 
by corresponding fruits in future life. 

V. — On bearing in mind a just sense of the 
comparative Importance of the objects at which 
we aim. 

As in the general conduct of life, it is the part 
of wisdom to sacrifice the less to the greater good ; 
so is this eminently the case in the subject before 
us. Now the primary, the essential object of 
education is this, — to form in children a religious 



236 APPENDIX, 

habit of mind, founded on the divine principles of 
Christianity, and leading to the habitual exercise 
of practical virtue. To this, all other attainments 
are wholly subordinate. 

These points, though frequently referred to in 
the following Observations, are thus stated sepa- 
rately, that they may the more easily be kept in 
view, as fundamental principles of universal appli- 
cation, in executing the particular directions that 
follow. 

TRUTH AND SINCERITY. 

Nothing, perhaps, is more beautiful, or more 
rare, than a character in which is no guile : 
Guile insinuates itself into our hearts and con- 
duct to a degree of which we are little aware, 
Many who would be shocked at an actual breach 
of truth, are, notwithstanding, far from sincere in 
manner or conversation. The mode in which 
they speak of others, when absent, is wholly in- 
consistent with their professions to them, when 
present. They will relate a fact, not falsely, but 
leaning to that side which tells best for them- 
selves ; they represent their own actions in the 
fairest colors ; they have an excuse ever ready for 
themselves, and, too often, at the expense of others. 
Such conduct if not coming under the character 
of direct falsehood, is certainly a species of deceit, 
to be severely condemned, and strictly guarded 



APPENDIX. 237 

against, not only in ourselves, but in our children ; 
for we shall find them early prone to art, and 
quick in imbibing it from others. It is not enough, 
therefore, to speak the truth ; our whole behavior 
to them should be sincere, upright, fair, and with- 
out artifice ; and it is experience alone that can 
prove the excellent effects that will result from such 
a course of conduct. Let all who are engaged in 
the care of children consider it a duty of primary, 
of essential importance, never to deceive them, 
never to employ cunning to gain their ends, or to 
spare present trouble. 

Great caution is required in making promises, 
and in threatening punishment ; but we must be 
rigid in the performance of the one, and in the in- 
fliction of the other. If, for example, we assure a 
child unconditionally, that, after his lessons, he 
shall have a top or a ball, no subsequent ill be- 
havior on his part should induce us to deprive 
him of it. Naughty or good, the top must be his ; 
ano\ if it be necessary to punish him, we must do 
it in some other way than by breach of engage- 
ment. For our word,' once passed, must not be 
broken. 

We should labor to excite in children a detes- 
tation of all that is mean, cunning, or false ; to 
inspire them with a spirit of openness, honor, 
and perfect honesty ; making them feel how noble 
it is, not merely to speak the truth, but to speak 
the simple unaltered truth, whether it tell for or 



238 APPENDIX. 

against themselves ; but this we cannot effect, 
unless our example uniformly concur with our 
instructions. 

The confusion and undesigned inaccuracy, so 
often to be observed in conversation, especially in 
that of uneducated persons, proves that "truth 
needs to be cultivated as a talent, as well as a 
virtue," children require not only to be told to 
speak the truth, but taught how to do it. To this 
end, it will be highly beneficial to accustom them 
gradually and by continued practice, to give an 
accurate account of what they have read or seen, 
and to relate correctly circumstances in which 
they have themselves been engaged ; for this 
perspicuity and precision are commonly the result 
not only of good principle but of intellectual cul- 
tivation. Dr. Johnson observes, " Nothing but 
experience can evince the frequency of false infor- 
mation ; — some men relate what they think as 
what they know; some men of confused memories 
and habitual inaccuracy ascribe to one man what 
belongs to another, and some talk on without 
thought or care. Accustom your children, there- 
fore, to a strict attention to truth, even in the most 
minute particulars ; if a thing happened at one 
window, and they, when relating it, say that it 
happened at another, do not let it pass, but in- 
stantly check them ; you do not know where 
deviation from truth will end. It is more from 



APPENDIX, 239 

CARELESSNESS ABOUT TRUTH THAN FROM INTEN- 
TIONAL LYING, THAT THERE IS SO MUCH FALSE- 
HOOD IN THE WORLD."* 

On no account whatever let any thing be said 
or done in the nursery that Mamma is not to be 
told. 

In case of any unpleasant occurrence, it is the 
duty of a nurse to take the earliest opportunity of 
informing her mistress ; and to do this when she 
can with propriety, in the presence of the children. 
She is ever to enforce the same habit among them, 
encouraging them, if they have met with an acci- 
dent, or committed a fault, at once, (for in these 
cases, delays are dangerous,) to go to their mother, 
and freely to confess it to her. 

It is desirable, as far as possible, to manifest 
confidence in the honor and veracity of children ; 
for we should wish deceit and falsehood to be 
considered among them as offences of which we 
do not even suppose them capable : to accuse a 
child falsely, breaks his spirit, and lowers his sense 
of honor. If we have, at any time, reason to 
suspect a child of telling a falsehood, or of con- 
cealing the truth, great caution is necessary in 
betraying that suspicion. We should endeavor to 
ascertain the fact by our own observation, or the 
evidence of others, rather than by the common 

* See Boswell's Life of Johnson, oct. vol. iii. pp. 249, 250. 



240 APPENDIX. 

expedient of questioning the child himself, or 
strongly urging him to confession ; for, in so doing, 
we shall often lead him, if he be guilty, to repeat 
the falsehood ; or, if innocent and timid, to plead 
guilty to a fault which he has not committed. 
Besides, no small care is necessary that we do not 
bring children into temptation, or put too much 
to the proof their still weak and unformed prin- 
ciples. There are many suspicious cases, the 
truth of which being buried in the breast of a 
child, cannot be discovered ; and these it is gener- 
ally wiser to leave unnoticed ; at the same time, 
more vigilantly observing the offender, and treat- 
ing him with the greater strictness upon those 
occasions in which the truth can be ascertained 
by positive evidence. 

If we have grounds for supposing a child guilty 
of some common offence, although, as has before 
been remarked with regard to falsehood, it is 
better to ascertain the truth by evidence, rather 
than by forced confession of the suspected party : 
yet, sometimes it may be necessary to question the 
child himself. This must be done with great 
caution, not with the vehemence and hurry so 
commonly employed on such occasions ; but with 
calmness and affection. We should forbid him to 
answer in haste, or without consideration ; remind- 
ing him of the extreme importance and happy 
consequences of truth : of our tenderness towards 



APPENDIX. 241 

him, and willingness to forgive, if he freely con- 
fess his fault, and show himself upright and hon- 
orable in his conduct ; for truth being the corner 
stone of practical goodness, we must be ready, 
when necessary, to sacrifice to it less important 
points ; and, for the sake of this leading object, to 
pass over many smaller offences. 

I cannot close the subject before us without a 
warning against a severe, repulsive, disheartening, 
or satirical system, in the management of children. 
Nothing is so likely to produce in them, especially 
in those of timid dispositions, reserve, pusilla- 
nimity, and duplicity of character. On the other 
hand, good discipline will greatly promote habits 
of integrity and openness. But it is to be remem- 
bered, that the best dicipline is always combined 
with freedom, mildness, sympathy, and affection. 

AUTHORITY AND OBEDIENCE. 

All who are engaged in bringing up children 
must, necessarily, possess a certian share of 
authority or power over them. This power, 
beino- the chief instrument in education, it is to 
the injudicious use which is made of it, that many 
of the prevalent defects among children are to be 
ascribed. On the one hand, we may observe self- 
indulgence, insubordination, and disobedience : 
on the other, a broken and depressed spirit, one of 
the most serious and least curable evils which ill- 
21 



242 APPENDIX. 

management, on the part of those who govern, 
can occasion. The former, arising from a weak, 
indecisive, and irregular exercise of authority; 
the latter, from coldness and severity. 

It is our business to steer as clear as possible 
between these opposite evils — bearing in mind 
that it is essential to the welfare of children to 
know how to obey, to submit their wills, and to 
bear a denial ; while at the same time, their 
minds should be left free and vigorous, open to 
every innocent enjoyment, and unfettered by the 
thraldom of fear. We shall best unite these 
important advantages by an authority, firm but 
affectionate, equally free from peevishness or ill 
temper, and an excess of indulgence, regular and 
consistent, never unnecessarily called into action, 
but, always, with effect ; exercised with a simple 
view to the good of those under our care, accord- 
ing to the dictates of judgment, and from the prin- 
ciple of love : for the reproofs, corrections, and 
restraints, which are necessarily imposed upon 
children, should spring from love, as well as the 
encouragements and indulgences which we 
bestow upon them ; 



Such authority, in shew, 



When most severe, and must'ring all its force, 
Is but the graver countenance of love ; 
Whose favor, like the clouds of spring, may low'r 
And utter, now and then, an awful voice, 
But has a blessing in its darkest frown, 
Threat'ning, at once, and nourishing the plant." 



APPENDIX. 243 

Authority thus guarded, combining in right 
proportion, decision and mildness, will produce in 
the subjects of it, an invaluable union of happy 
freedom and ready obedience. 

Decision of character is essential to success in 
the business of education. " Weakness in every 
form tempts arrogance ; when a firm, decisive 
spirit is recognised it is curious to see how the 
space clears around a man, and leaves him room 
and freedom. I have known several parents, 
both fathers and mothers, whose management of 
their families has answered this description, and 
has displayed a striking example of the facile 
complacency with which a number of persons, of 
different ages and dispositions, will yield to the 
decisions of a firm mind acting on an equitable 
and enlightened system?* But while we do 
justice to this great and most effectual quality, it 
must never be forgotten that decision, when un- 
tempered by affection, and unpoised by a wise, 
considerate, generous estimate of the rights of 
others, too quickly degenerates into sternness and 
severity. 

With children, a vigilant superintendence is re- 
quired, but not a frequent interference. 

The object of education, " is to preserve them 
from evil, not from childishness." 

* Foster's Essay on Decision of Character. 



244 APPENDIX. 

We should, therefore, be very lenient to those 
errors, which are more " the defects of the age 
than of the individual," and which time, there is 
little doubt, will remove, reserving our authority 
to be exercised with the more effect, on important 
occasions — such occasions, as bear upon funda- 
mental principles and moral habits. 

Children must, and should be, children still, 
and it is our duty to sympathize with them as 
such * to impose upon them no unnecessary 
restraint, to grant them every harmless gratifica- 
tion, and, as far as possible, to promote their truest 
enjoyment, remembering, that, although the day 
is often cloudy, yet it is mercifully ordered that 
the dawn of life should be bright and happy, unless 
by mismanagement, it be rendered otherwise. 

It may, at first sight, appear inconsistent with 
what has been just said, strongly to recommend 
that the will be effectually subjected in very early 
childhood. This object must be obtained, if we 
would proceed in the business of education, with 
comfort or ensure .the welfare and happiness of 
our children. A portion of stricter discipline may, 
for a time, be required, but discipline, be it ever 
remembered, is perfectly compatible with the ten- 
derest sympathy and the most affectionate kind- 
ness. Amidst the various objects of education, 
the cultivation of confidential habits is too often 
overlooked even by affectionate and attentive 



APPENDIX. 245 

parents. They are, perhaps, obeyed, respected, 
and beloved; but this is not sufficient. If, in 
addition, a parent can be to her children the fami- 
liar friend, the unreserved confidant, the sympa- 
thizing partner in their joys and sorrows, hopes 
and disappointments, a hold on the mind is ob- 
tained, which will continue when authority 
ceases, and prove a safeguard through the most 
critical period of life. 

It is important, in the management of children, 
to make but few rules, and to be unalterably firm 
in enforcing those which are made — to give no 
needless commands — but to see that those given 
are strictly obeyed. We should also be cautious 
of employing authority on occasions in which it 
is likely to be exerted in vain ; or of commanding 
what we cannot enforce. 

It is the part of wisdom, as far as possible, so 
to exercise authority, that it should be considered 
as inviolable, never to be disobeyed or contemned 
with impunity. 

The restraint of the tongue, which has before 
been mentioned as necessary to those who educate, 
is one of the most important habits to be enforced 
also upon children themselves, and is a great 
security to proper submission under authority; 
forming no small part of that self subjection, 
which is essential to true dicipline. 
21* 



246 APPENDIX. 

REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS, PRAISE AND j 
BLAME. 

Rewards and punishments, praise and blam3, 
are the main supports of authority, and its effect 
will greatly depend on our dispensing these with 
wisdom and caution. 

A very frequent recourse to rewards does but 
lessen their effect, and weaken the mind by accus- 
toming it to an unnecessary stimulus, whilst pun- 
ishment, too freely administered, will fret the 
temper, or, which is worse, break the spirit. 

Locke remarks, " that those children, who are 
the most chastized, rarely prove the best men ; 
and, that punishment, if it be not productive of 
good, will certainly be the cause of much injury." 

It is better, therefore, if possible, to effect our 
purposes by encouragement and rewards, than 
correction. But if this be impracticable, we 
should still keep in view, that punishment, being 
in itself an evil, and intended simply to deter from 
what is wrong, and to induce submission and 
penitence, ought never to be extended beyond 
what is absolutely necessary to secure these objects, 
and, unless inflicted by parents, or those who are 
possessed of the first authority, should be of the 
mildest and least alarming character. 

There is much, in education, to be done by 
watching our opportunities, by acting at the right 



APPENDIX. 247 

season. With most children there is an era, and 
this often takes place as they are emerging from 
babyhood, in which a struggle is made for the 
mastery, — in which it is to be decided who is to 
rule, — the child, or those who are placed over 
him. At such a juncture, in order to determine 
the matter, and firmly to establish authority, it 
will be necessary to employ vigorous measures, 
and to suppress the first risings of a rebellious and 
disobedient spirit, by punishment, decisive ; and 
repeated till submission on the part of the child, 
and victory on that of the parent, are completely 
secured.* So great is the importance of these 
contests ; so great is the difficulty of carrying them 
on with the temper, and the union of firmness and 

* Although the use of the rod is most strictly to he prohibited 
to those who possess only secondary authority, yet, with some few 
children, a parent may find it necessary to employ corporal pun- 
ishment in order to establish the hahit of obedience, or effectually 
to subdue a propensity to falsehood, or to any other glaring breach 
of moral principle. Under such circumstances corporal punishment 
may be very efficacious ; but to render it so, or rather to prevent 
its becoming a dangerous evil, it must be resorted to only as a 
last resource on very important occasions, and administered as a 
chastisement of the most serious nature, with decision, perfect 
serenity of temper, and affection towards the offender. 

it will also be found that corporal punishment, if necessary at all, 
will be most useful in the early stages of childhood ; every advanc- 
ing year, as it should add to a child's generosity of feeling, and 
sense of honor, increases the serious disadvantages which attend 
this mode of correction. 



248 APPENDIX. 

affection, which they require, that it is desirable 
they should be conducted only by a parent. Pun- 
ishment is more often to be inflicted simply as the 
'consequence of a fault, and not with the idea, that 
it must be prolonged till the particular action 
required has been performed. 

It has been said, indeed, that submission, on the 
part of the offender, is the object of punishment, 
and such submission as may entitle him to receive 
•complete forgiveness. When a child has been 
corrected, we should not rest satisfied till this 
object has been attained ; but it is not, in all cases. 
to be expected, either during the continuance of 
the punishment, or immediately afterwards. 

TEMPER. 

On no part of the character has education more 
influence, than on the temper ; the due regulation 
of which is an object of so great importance to 
the enjoyment of the present life, and to the prepa- 
ration for a better. 

An authority such as has been described, firm, 
but affectionate ; decided, yet mild ; imposing no 
unnecessary restraints; but encouraging every 
innocent freedom and gratification, exercised ac- 
cording to the dictates of judgment, and supported 
by rewards and punishments judiciously dispens- 
ed, is the best means of securing good temper in 
our children, and evinces that self-subjection on 



APPENDIX. 249 

our part which is essential to its successful culti- 
vation on theirs. This, at once, will put an end 
to those impulses of temper in ourselves which 
are the most fruitful sources of irritation to others ; 
for, it is surprising, how quickly our own irrita- 
bility will be reflected in the little ones around us. 
Speak to a child in a fretful manner, and we shall 
generally find that his answer partakes of the 
same character. We may reprove ; we may 
punish ; we may enforce obedience ; but all will 
be done with double the effect if our own temper 
remain perfectly unruffled ; for what benefit can 
reasonably be expected, when we recommend that 
by our injunctions which we renounce by our 
example ? 

The variations and inconsistency to which char- 
acters of impulse are also liable, are particularly 
trying to children. There are few tempers that 
can resist the effect of being sharply reproved at 
one time, for what, at another, is passed over 
without notice ; of being treated one day with 
excessive indulgence, and the next with fretful- 
ness or severity. 

We all have our weak and irritable moments ; 
we may experience many changes of temper and 
feeling ; but let us beware of betraying such vari- 
ations in our outward conduct, if we value the 
good temper and respect of our children ; for these 
we have no right to expect on their part, without 
consistency on ours. 



250 APPENDIX. 

If a fault be glaring, it must be seriously taken 
up ; but in the management of the temper, espe- 
cially in early childhood, much may be effected 
by a system of prevention. A judicious atten- 
dant may avert many an impending naughty fit, 
by change of object, gentle amusement, and re- 
doubled care to put no temptation in the way, if 
she observe any of her little ones weary, uncom- 
fortable, or irritable. This, for instance, will 
generally be the case with children when they 
first awake. They should, therefore, then be 
treated with more than common tenderness; 
never roused from sleep suddenly or violently; 
nor exposed to any little trials, till they have had 
time thoroughly to recover themselves. It is 
scarcely necessary to add, how peculiarly this 
tender consideration is required, not only in 
illness, but under the various lesser indispositions 
so frequent in infancy. 

Children ought not to be, unnecessarily, 
thwarted in their objects ; which, at a very early 
age, they pursue with eagerness. Let them, if 
possible, complete their projects without interrup- 
tion. A child, for example, before he can speak, 
is trotting after a ball ; the nurse snatches him up 
at the moment, to be washed and dressed, and the 
poor child throws himself into a violent passion. 
Whereas, had she first entered into his views, 
kindly assisted him in gaining his object, and then 



APPENDIX. 251 

gently taken him up, this trial would have been 
spared, and his temper uninjured. 

We should avoid keeping children in suspense, 
which is often done from a kind motive, though 
with very ill effect. If a child ask his nurse for a 
cake, and she can give it him, let her tell him so 
at once, and assure him that he shall have it ; 
but, should she be unable to grant his request, 
or know it would be improper for him, do not let 
her hesitate ; do not let her say, " I will think of 
it, we shall see," but kindly and decidedly refuse 
him. 

If he sees his mother going out, and petition to 
accompany her, it will be better she should say 
" No," or " Yes," at once, for he will receive with 
ease an immediate, but kind, refusal ; when, pro- 
bably, he would cry bitterly at a denial, after his 
expectations had been raised by suspense. 

When a child is to go to bed, we ought not to 
fret him for the last half hour, by saying every 
few minutes, "I shall soon send you to bed — 
Now, my dear, it is time to go — Now I hope you 
will go" — but let him be told that, at such a time, 
he is to go to bed, and when that time arrives, no 
common excuse should prevent it. 

We ought also to be guarded against attaching 
too much importance to trifles ; from this mistake, 
many an useless combat arises in most nurseries. 
How often have I observed a nurse more dis- 



25-2 APPENDIX. 



turbed, and a child more alarmed and fretted, at 
a torn or dirty frock, than at a breach of truth, or 
a want of generosity ! Here the lesser good is 
preferred to the greater, and the primary object of 
education forgotten.* 

By such measures as have been recommended,, 
accompanied by a quick sympathy with the pecu- 
liar characters, and peculiar infirmities of chil- 
dren,, much may be done towards forming among 
them a habit of good temper. But, such is the 
irritability both of mental and bodily constitution 
in childhood, that, with our best efforts, we must 
not expect unvarying success. 

From some hidden cause, generally to be traeed 
to their bodily state, many children, perhaps all 
occasional!}^ are prone to a certain fretfulness, or 
irritability, which will baffle every attempt to 
overcome it, and which, therefore, is rather to be 
borne with than opposed — never to be humored, 
but to be received with unmoved serenity and pa- 
tience. In such cases, there appears to be no 
other method of proceeding. This, indeed, calls 

* It is much to be regretted that dress is thus often made the 
subject of dispute and irritation. Personal cleanliness is indeed 
indispensable; and children, whether it teaze them or not, must 
be thoroughly washed. But their clothes should be so contrived 
as not to interfere with their freedom and enjoyment, or to require 
any great degree of attention. It is desirable to keep them as 
neat as the case admits of, but, to this, a nurse must take care that 
neither her own temper, nor their's is sacrificed.' 






APPENDIX. 253 

for great patience; but, without great patience, 
who can perform the duties required towards 
children ? 

justice. 

" Impartiality is the life of justice, as justice is 
of all good government." It is necessary dili- 
gently to enforce upon children principles of strict 
justice, and invariably to act upon them ourselves. 
We must have no partialities, but give to every 
one his due : to the elder as much as to the 
younger, (in this a deficiency may often be 
observed ;) to the unattractive as well as to the 
more pleasing ; each according to his deserts, and 
not according to his own particular feelings. 
" On every occasion our decisions are to be regu- 
lated not by the person, but by the cause" We 
are not to infringe upon the rights of children ; 
remembering that their feelings are a counterpart 
of our own, and that human nature is the same 
at every age. It is, therefore, a great, though 
very common error, to suppose, that, because they 
are placed under our power, we are not bound by 
the same laws of justice and honor, in our deal- 
ings with them, as with our equals. It is a well 
known remark, that "the greatest respect is due 
to children ;" and this is especially to be mani- 
fested in a conscientious regard to their just and 
natural claims, We should hold their little pro- 
22 



254 APPENDIX. 

perty as more sacred than our own ; and insist 
upon the same principle in their conduct towards 
each other : not allowing one child to use the 
playthings of his brother, especially in his ab- 
sence, without his express consent ; teaching 
them the true import of " thine and mine ;" and 
making it a point of honor to consider the rights 
of others, as they would their own. 

Children ought not to be obliged to give and 
lend: this is a very frequent mistake. One of 
them, for example, is eating a cake, and the infant 
cries for it ; the nurse begs for a piece in vain ; 
and irritated by the unkindness of the one, and 
the cries of the other, she hastily breaks the eake, 
and gratifies the desire of the younger, by seizing 
the property of the elder. The latter feels himself 
injured ; his anger is excited towards his op- 
pressor ; and his kind feelings towards his bro- 
ther impaired : whilst the former is strengthened 
in the idea, that, by crying and impatience, he 
shall obtain the gratification of his wishes. 
Or, an elder child has a cart ; he has played with 
it till he is tired : the younger begs for the use of 
it ; the elder peremptorily refuses. The nurse 
persuades ; she complains, urges, and remon- 
strates, till she obtains a reluctant consent : or, if 
not, seizes the cart, and gives it to the younger. 
Here the law of justice is broken : and the rights 
of the elder child are violated. It is true, he was 



APPENDIX. 255 

dnkind and unobliging; but the cart and the 
cake were his own : and by taking them from 
him, without his free and full consent, we shall 
not teach him generosity, but injustice. 

HARMONY, GENEROSITY, ETC. 

Thoroughly to establish the principles of strict 
justice in the conduct of those who rule, and in 
that of the children, one toward another, is the 
grand means of securing the peace and good order 
of a nursery, and the only sure groundwork of 
harmony, mutual generosity, and, consequently, 
of love. The apprehension lest his property 
should be extorted from him ; the fear of having 
his own rights, in any way infringed ; the sus- 
picion that he may not receive his due — renders 
a child irritable and contentious ; whilst the cer- 
tainty that he himself shall be treated with entire 
justice and impartiality, satisfies his mind, com- 
poses his spirit, and prepares him to impart, with 
liberality, what he knows is altogether in his 
own power. 

At the same time, the habit of nice attention, on 
his part, to the rights of others, teaches him the 
invaluable lesson of subduing his desires, and of 
expecting limits to his individual gratification. 
Thus the principle of justice, brought into full 
effect, cuts off the main sources of dispute and 
contention ; prepares the way for a free and liberal 



256 APPENDIX. 

spirit; is the surest preservative against an en- 
vious, suspicious temper ; and is the first step 
towards overcoming that selfishness, which is the 
prevailing evil of the human heart. This evil 
must be carefully watched, and perseveringly 
counteracted, especially by guarding against it in 
our own hearts and behavior; for, let it be remem- 
bered, that generosity and affection are virtues, 
which, from their nature, do not admit of being 
enforced by authority. We must not attempt to 
command them ; nor should we upbraid children 
for the want of them, even towards ourselves, 
though we may do much to promote their growth, 
by this strict, adherence to justice, by influence, 
instruction, and a judicious improvement of those 
natural feelings of kindness, which almost all 
children occasionally display. There are few who 
will not discover emotions of sympathy and pity 
at the sight of any sorrow or suffering, which they 
understand to be such ; and these are the occa- 
sions for awakening their benevolence and com- 
passion, not only toward their fellow creatures, 
but to every living thing. We should be particu- 
larly careful to lose no such opportunity of culti- 
vating this tenderness of feeling among themselves. 
If one of the little flock be ill, or in pain, the others 
will, generally, show an interest and sympathy — 
a desire to comfort and please him, which should 
be carefully cherished. The affections of elder 



APPENDIX. 257 

children are also often called forth, in a lively- 
manner, toward the younger. Now, although their 
attentions to the little one maybe at times trouble- 
some to the attendant, she ought not hastily to 
suppress them — rather let her commend the 
younger to the care and protection of the elder ; 
ever bearing in mind the importance of nurturing 
that family affection, so invaluable in the pro- 
gress of life, and of which the foundation is gen- 
erally laid within the first ten years of childhood. 
Elder children, are, on the contrary, sometimes 
inclined to tease, and domineer over the younger ; 
though it is commonly those who have themselves 
been treated with tyranny that are most disposed, 
in their turn to become tyrants. This inclination 
is ever to be repressed : we are to point out the 
meanness as well as the barbarity, of employing 
superior strength, in oppressing or tormenting, the 
weak and the helpless ; and uniformly to manifest 
our abhorrence of cruelty and tyranny, under 
whatever form they may appear, even when exer- 
cised toward the most insignificant insect. Let 
the first appearances also of a revengeful disposi- 
tion be especially guarded against, both in our 
children, and in the conversation and conduct of 
those who are about them. If a child, in infancy, 
be encouraged to beat the table, against which he 
has bruised his head ; if he be allowed to strike 
his brother, from whom he has received a blow ; 
22* 



25S APPENDIX. 

if he hear the language of retaliation and mutual 
reproach among his attendants, can we be sur- 
prised, if he display an irascible and vindictive 
temper, as his will and his passions are strength- 
ened by age ? 

Although we are not to force upon children even 
the best instruction, nor urge them to an exertion 
of self-denial and benevolence, for which their 
minds are not ripe ; yet we must remember the 
importance of raising their views, as they are able 
to bear it, to the Christian standard of relative 
goodness. We may gradually inculcate the inval- 
uable precepts, that we should forgive one another, 
as we hope ourselves to be forgiven ; that " blessed 
are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy;" 
that " we are to do to others as we would have 
them do to us" — having compassion toward all ; 
being pitiful and courteous ; remembering " the 
words of the Lord Jesus," that " it is more blessed 
to give than to receive." 

How many of the fairest opportunities will 
naturally present themselves, especially to a 
mother, when the hearts of her little ones are 
touched, not only of inculcating these divine in- 
junctions, but which will still more avail, of 
tenderly infusing the spirit they breathe, by sym- 
pathy and influence ! Nor is it only the precepts 
of the New Testament, which may assist us on 
these occasions, we have also to point out the 






APPENDIX. 259 

example of Christ. We have to cultivate the 
habit of contemplating his character, not only to 
be loved and admired, as perfect in itself, but as a 
pattern for us, as the standard at which we are 
continually to be aiming, as that which is intended 
to produce the strongest effects upon our lives and 
affections. It is to be lamented that of this perfect 
pattern we make so little practical use, that it is so 
little brought to bear upon the daily conduct of 
life. No religious instruction is better suited to 
the minds of children, than that derived from the 
example of Christ, and no part of this example 
more calculated to touch their hearts, than the 
compassion, the tenderness, the consideration of 
the wants and feelings of others, which he so 
perfectly displayed.* 

* The compassion and tenderness of our Lord will be strongly 
illustrated by contrasting them with the behavior of the disciples. 
Excellent as they were as men, their impatience and even want of 
charity, on many occasions, sufficiently prove, how wide is the 
difference between human virtue, and divine perfection, between 
that exalted standard which is set before us for our imitation, and 
the conduct of those who have most nearly approached to it. It 
was the language of the disciples, " Send the multitude away that 
they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals." Jesus 
answered, " Give ye them to eat" — " I have compassion upon the 
multitude, T will not send them awoy fasting lest they faint by the 
way." (Matthew xiv. and xv.) 

The followers of our Lord " charged the blind man that he 
should hold his peace." " Jesus stood still, commanded him to be 
brought unto him saving, What wilt thou that I should do unto 



260 APPENDIX. 

Children may be easily trained to exercise kind- 
ness and liberality towards the poor ; they will 
experience a pleasure in relieving their wants. 
When old enough, the boys may be induced to 
save money ; the girls, to make clothes for the 
poor families, with whom they are personally 
acquainted. It is important that the habit of 
giving freely should be early established ; for 
the usefulness of many characters is materially 
abridged through life from the want of this habit. 
With good and benevolent intentions, they know 
not how to dispense liberally, or how to open their 
hands freely. Mutual presents, if altogether vol- 
untary, have also a happy tendency in promoting 
family affection and good will. But, in endeavor- 
ing to foster liberality, it must never be forgotten, 
that kindness is not to be forced. 

thee ? Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee." {Luke xviii.) 
When parents brought their young children to Jesus that he 
should bless them, the disciples rebuked them. " Jesus was much 
displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come 
unto me, and forbid them not. And he took them up in his arms, 
put his hands upon them and blessed them." (Markx.) 

When the Samaritans refused to receive their master, the dis- 
ciples would have commanded fire to come down from heaven to 
consume them. Jesus answered, " Ye know not what manner of 
spirit ye are of, the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, 
but to save them." (Luke ix.) 

When his enemies surrounded our Lord with swords and staves, 
"Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the High Priest's 
servant and cut off his right ear — then said Jesus unto Peter, Put 
up thy sword into the sheath." " And he touched his ear and 
healed it." (Luke xxn.—John xviii.) 



APPENDIX. 261 

Children, as they advance in age, should be 
taught to distinguish between that true generosity 
which involves self-denial, and that which costs 
them nothing — between a generosity which 
springs from a desire of applause, and that which 
is simply the result of benevolence and a sense of 
duty. 

It is desirable that the play-things, books, &c. 
of each child be marked with his own name. 
This prevents many disputes, by facilitating that 
regard to individual property before recommended. 
When the division of any common treat is left to 
the children themselves, it is a good regulation 
that the divider is always to expect the last choice 
himself; and that the absent are particularly to 
be remembered — the most liberal shares being 
reserved for them. 

There observations may appear unnecessarily 
minute ; but it is by little things that children ac- 
quire habits, and learn to apply general principles : 
" To a fond parent, who would not have his son 
corrected for a perverse trick, but excused it, say- 
ing it was a small matter, Solon wisely replied, 
1 Aye, but custom is a great one.' " 

FEARFULNESS AND FORTITUDE. 

We have two objects to keep in view ; the one, 
to secure our children from all unnecessary and 
imaginary fears — the other, to inspire them with 



262 APPENDIX. 

that strength of mind, which may enable them to 
meet, with patience and courage, the real and un- 
avoidable evils of life. 

For the first, there is no one who has contem- 
plated the suffering occasioned, through life, by 
the prevalence of needless fears, imaginary terrors, 
and diseased nerves, but would most earnestly 
desire to preserve their children from these evils. 
To this end, they should be, as far as possible, 
guarded against every thing likely to excite sud- 
den alarm, or to terrify the imagination. In very 
early childhood, they ought not to be startled, 
even at play, by sudden noises or strange appear- 
ances. Ghost stories, extraordinary dreams, and 
all other gloomy and mysterious tales, must on no 
account be named in their presence: nor must 
they hear histories of murders, robberies, sudden 
deaths, mad dogs, or terrible diseases. If any 
such occurrences are the subjects of general con- 
versation, let them at least be prohibited in the 
nursery. How cruel, then, purposely to excite 
false terrors in those under our care : as by threat- 
ening them with " the black man who comes for 
naughty children," with " gipsies," " the snake in 
the well," &c. ! 

Great care is required that children do not im- 
bibe terrific and gloomy ideas of death ; nor should 
they incautiously be taken to funerals, or allowed 
to see a corpse. It is desirable to dwell on the 



APPENDIX. 263 

joys of the righteous in the presence of their 
heavenly Father, freed from every pain and 
sorrow, rather than on the state and burial of the 
body, a subject, very likely, painfully to affect the 
imagination. 

Direct opposition, upbraiding a child for his 
cowardice, accusing him of fearing the dark, of 
believing in ghosts, &c, will but establish, or per- 
haps create, the very evils we desire to counteract. 
If a child dread the dark, he must on no account 
be forced into it, or left in bed against his will, 
without a candle. 

There are few more fruitful sources of fearful- 
ness than mystery: it is therefore a mistake to 
assume an air of concealment toward children — to 
speak in their presence by hints, or in a sup- 
pressed voice, on subjects unsuited to them. 

Although by securing our children from useless 
fears and alarming impressions, we gain the first 
step toward the cultivation of courage and forti- 
tude, yet this alone is not sufficient. If we would 
ensure the attainment of these excellent endow- 
ments, it will be necessary to infuse into our sys- 
tem of education a certain portion of resolution 
and hardihood. We must bear in mind that we 
have to train up those entrusted to us not for a 
life of rewards, ease, and pleasure, but for a 
world, in which they will meet with pain, sick- 
ness, danger, and sorrow. That we are bringing 



264 



APPENDIX. 



them up, not only to be useful in the various en- 
gagements of this life ; but chiefly to carry on that 
great work, the salvation of their souls, in which 
fortitude and self-denial are essential ! 

When children are sick, or in pain, whilst doing 
our utmost to relieve, to solace, and to divert them, 
it is necessary for their sakes, hard as it may be 
to ourselves, to mingle resolution with our tender- 
ness — for if, by an excess of indulgence, by too 
great a display of sympathy, we weaken the mind 
or spoil the temper ; in that proportion we add to 
their sufferings ; and I believe it will generally be 
found, as I was convinced myself by the painful 
experience of many months, that some discipline, 
combined with the tender est attentions, is as 
necessary for the comfort of children in sickness 
as in health. It is also of importance early to 
encourage them to submit with resolution to the 
necessary infliction of painful remedies, and to 
think lightly of them, as tooth-drawing, taking 
medicine, and using other means which often form 
a considerable part of the trial of sickness. 

We shall succeed in the early cultivation of 
fortitude and patience, chiefly by influence, and 
the careful formation of habits. There are certain 
principles, however, relating to the subjects before 
US, not to be prematurely brought forward, but 
ever to be kept in view, thoroughly to be esta- 
blished in our own minds, and strongly impressed 



APPENDIX. 265 

upon those of our children, as their powers 
strengthen and opportunities offer. These are 
the principles of overcoming self, of struggling 
against natural infirmities, of enduring present 
pain, for the sake of future good, and still more, 
of humble submission to the will of God, receiv- 
ing, as from the hand of a gracious father, not 
only our many comforts and blessings, but the 
portion of sorrow and disappointment which he 
sees meet to dispense to us for our good. 

I would venture to remind those engaged in the 
work of education, of the necessity of practising 
themselves that fortitude and patience, which they 
are desirous of cultivating in their young charge. 

INDUSTRY, PERSEVERANCE, AND ATTENTION. 

As idleness is the inlet to most other evils, so it 
is by industry that the powers of the mind are 
turned to good account. That so little is effected 
by most people, may be attributed much more to 
the waste and misapplication, than to the want 
of natural powers ; and it will generally be found 
that usefulness of character depends more upon 
diligence, than any thing else, if we except reli- 
gious principle. It is therefore highly important 
to train up children to habits of industry, applica- 
tion, and perseverance. They should early be 
made sensible of the infinite value of time ; they 
should be made to understand that no economy is 
23 



266 APPENDIX. 

so essential as the economy of time ; and that, as 
by squandering pence, we are very soon deprived 
of pounds ; so, by wasting minutes, we shall lose 
not only hours, but days and months. 

We must endeavor to inspire children with the 
spirit inculcated in the following precept — "What- 
soever thy hand iindeth to do, do it with thy 
might," Eccles. ix. 10,— to bring them gradually 
" to be a whole man to every thing." This is an 
acquirement fraught with the most important ad- 
vantages, though of very difficult attainment. So 
volatile is the mind during childhood, so averse 
to restraint, that it is only by very slow degrees 
the habits, here recommended, can be formed. 
We must not expect complete success with any 
children ; and, with some, the difficulty will 
appear nearly insurmountable. Energy of mind, 
like power in mechanism^ if once attained, may be 
directed and applied to a variety of objects ; but 
the want of this energy — an indifference; a spirit- 
lessness of character — is a defect, most difficult to 
be overcome. 

It ought to be our object, that our pupils should 
advance surely, rather than rapidly. The most 
important advantage of lessons, — of regular daily 
lessons, in childhood, is this : — That they afford 
us an excellent opportunity of enforcing habits of 
self-subjection, diligence, and attention, and an 
opportunity of cultivating a taste for intellectual 



APPENDIX. 267 

pursuits. In the first ten years of life, it is not the 
quantity of knowledge acquired, but the habit of 
learning well, that is of consequence. 

DELICACY. 

On this subject, there is little to be said, for it 
is only those who have refined and delicate 
feelings ; who shrink from all that is coarse or 
impure, and who desire for themselves to be 
" wise unto that which is good, and simple con- 
cerning evil," who can fully appreciate so inval- 
uable a spirit in their children, or, who would 
know how to guard it in them as the choicest 
plant, though of the tenderest growth. If chil- 
dren are tempted to commit other faults, if they 
are misled into other errors ; there is great hope 
that the voice of conscience will be heard, and 
bring them back to the path of duty ; but if the 
purity of the mind be sullied or lost, this cannot 
be regained : the outward conduct may be cor- 
rect ; but a beauty, a charm, a security to all that 
is good, is gone. The necessity of giving chil- 
dren good principles is generally acknowledged, 
but the importance of inspiring them with good 
tastes is much oftener overlooked. A correct 
moral taste will not. only prove an invaluable aid 
to religious principle, but will be a safeguard 
against the inroads of corruption, even when 
religion has but too little influence on the heart. 



268 APPENDIX. 

Purity of character is so little in unison with the 
spirit of the world, that ; unless carefully cherished 
and watched over, we cannot hope to retain it, 
and it is, on this account, more than on any other, 
that companions for children should be selected 
with the greatest care ; that unguarded inter- 
course with others is to be dreaded ; low com- 
pany prohibited, and that peculiar discernment 
and discretion are necessary, in the choice of 
those, to whose care they are entrusted. 

During the first ten years of life, it is generally 
the case, both with boys and girls, that the char- 
acter is chiefly formed by female influence ; and 
how well calculated ought that influence to prove, 
to foster the purity and innocence of childhood ! 
It is only to be lamented that women, both in the 
higher and lower walks of life, should endanger 
that refined delicacy, so essential to their char- 
acter, by ever allowing themselves to treat what 
is impure, as a subject of curiosity or amusement ; 
by admitting conversation which is not perfectly 
delicate ; by reading books of an improper ten- 
dency, or by devouring promiscuously the contents 
of our public papers. 

Even little children are sometimes inclined, in 
their measure, to indelicate conversation, and will 
indulge in it, for the amusement of each other, 
and to excite a laugh ; but, in nothing has a li- 
cense of tongue a more corrupting effect ; and 



APPENDIX. 269 

any tendency to indelicacy in words or actions, 
is one of the few things in children, which ought 
to be treated with severity. An incorrect word, 
or an improper trick, in infancy, may at the time, 
be amusing,. as appearing to spring from childish 
playfulness and humor; but here an object of 
no small importance is at stake ; we are to mani- 
fest our disapprobation, both towards the offender, 
and those who are amused at his fault, and we 
must take care that our looks correspond with 
our conduct ; for a secret smile will more than 
counteract the effect of the severest reproof. 

A great deal on the subject before us, will de- 
pend on the nice principles, the correct propriety, 
and the constant watchfulness of a nurse'; for it 
is by a strict, and minute attention to little things, 
that modest and refined habits are formed, and a 
disgust induced at all that is improper and vulgar. 
A nurse cannot be too much guarded in what 
she does or says in the presence of children, 
nor must she fancy that they are always infants, 
or less alive than herself, to what passes before 
them. At the same time, the precautions taken 
should be perceived as little as possible, for she 
will defeat her end, if she excite curiosity, by 
giving the idea that there is something to be 
concealed. 

Diligence and regular employment are great 
safeguards to purity, for it is the indolent and 
23* 



270 APPENDIX. 

vacant mind, that is the most susceptible of 
improper impressions. 

When children ask embarrassing questions, we 
are not to deceive them, or resort to a falsehood, 
that we may keep them in ignorance. If we 
receive such questions, with an unmoved counte- 
nance and seeming indifference ; without the least 
air of mystery or concealment, and with no appa- 
rent awkwardness or confusion, we may answer 
them with truth, though, perhaps only in part, 
without exciting further curiosity, or improperly 
opening their minds, and we may easily prevent 
their pursuing the subject, by diverting their 
thoughts to other objects. It is also to be remem- 
bered, that there are some things, which, it is safer 
for children to learn from their parents, than from 
those who are less judicious and less guarded; for, 
in many cases, it is not so much the matter of 
fact, as an improper spirit in conveying it, which 
is injurious to the mind. 

MANNERS AND ORDER. 

Locke considers that manner is the object of 
next importance to religion and virtue, to be pre- 
ferred to learning, and it is evident that there is 
no passport so good in the world; nothing that 
adds so great a lustre to virtue, or that so well 
brings into daily use, more solid acquirements. 
" Good manners are the blossom of good sense," 



APPENDIX. 271 

and may it not. be added, of good feeling too ? for 
if the law of kindness be written in. the heart, it 
will lead to that disinterestedness in little as well 
as in great things — that desire to oblige, and 
attention to the gratification of others, which is 
the foundation of good manners. If, therefore, 
we are successful in inspiring children with such 
a disposition, we secure the most important means 
of rendering them pleasing. We should endeavor 
early to infuse the spirit of that precept — " Honor 
all men;" to teach them that kindness and civility 
are due to all ; that a haughty, preremptory, or 
contemptuous manner is not only ill-bred, but un- 
christian ; and that this is, especially, to be guarded 
against in their behaviour to servants. Nor will 
young people, generally, be tempted to treat with 
unkindness those, whose services claim a return 
of affection and gratitude, unless they are led to 
it by the example of others. 

It will, also, be necessary to guard children 
against vulgar habits, against roughness of man- 
ner, as well as coarseness of mind ; as loud talking 
and laughing, the use of violent exclamations and 
expressions, "shocking! terrible ! monstrous !" &c. ; 
nor should they be allowed to continue their 
infantine language too long : the imperfect words 
and broken sentences of an infant, will be unplea- 
sant and appear like affectation, when used by 
elder children ; but this habit is often encouraged 



272 APPENDIX. 

by the affected and babyish tones of voice in 
which their attendants frequently address them. 
It is essential to good breeding-, that children be 
taught to express themselves well, and to speak 
distinctly and grammatically. 

As 'satire and ridicule are instruments, ill cal- 
culated to be employed in education ; so any ten- 
dency to these dispositions in children themselves 
is to be repressed ; mimicry, also, though highly 
amusing, ought to be discouraged ; as being 
likely to induce an unpleasant and improper turn 
of mind. 

Good conduct at meals, is, with children, a fair 
criterion of good manners, and meals may be 
made use of, as favorable opportunities for incul- 
cating propriety of behaviour. Children should 
be taught to sit down, and rise up from table, at 
the same time ; to wait, whilst others are served, 
without betraying eagerness or impatience ; to 
avoid noise and conversation, and if they are no 
longer confined to the nursery, to be able to see 
delicacies, without expecting or asking to partake 
of them. To know when to be silent is more 
important to good manners than is generally sup- 
posed. Speaking, when it interrupts reading or 
conversation, and the habit of contradicting 
others, should be checked, as also that ill-timed 
garrulity, so unpleasing in some children, and 



APPENDIX. 273 

which, generally, springs from an undesirable self- 
confidence and forwardness of character. 

Nor is the 'person to be neglected in early life ; 
for it will spare children many awkward feelings 
as they grow up, if they are taught to walk and 
to carry themselves well ; to enter, leave a room, 
and to address others with ease and propriety. 
With many, the acquirement of this external 
polish will prove a very slow work, and a subject 
of considerable difficulty ; but if we see an amia- 
ble and obedient disposition, there is every reason 
to hope that roughness of manner will be smooth- 
ed down by time and the example of others. 
Parents ought not, therefore, to allow themselves, 
from their own irritability and impatience, to ren- 
der manner j as is the case in so many families, the 
cause of daily vexation, and of continual though 
fruitless complaints. We must receive with pa- 
tience and good nature numberless little failures 
in those whose happiness it is to think little of the 
effect they produce upon others ; nor is it by 
reproofs and admonitions, showered down upon 
the child, at the moment in which we wish him 
to display his good manners, that we shall effect 
our purpose ; but by accustoming him to exercise 
habitual kindness and civility towards his compa- 
nions, and those with whom he- lives. With all 
our care, however, we are not to expect that the 
manners of children will be superior to those of 



274 APPENDIX. 

the persons with whom they chiefly associate ; for 
in nothing is it more true that " we are all a sort 
of camelion, and, still, take a tincture from things 
around us." On this account, as on every other, 
it is of importance that children should witness 
no vulgar habits in the nursery, and that the con- 
versation between the nurses themselves should 
be guarded and correct. 

But here it must be remarked, that in our ear- 
nestness to render our children pleasing, and to 
improve their manners, care will be required that 
we do not rob them of their chief charm — the 
simplicity of childhood ; for how greatly are to be 
preferred even an uncouthness of behaviour, and 
awkward shyness, to any thing of premature for- 
wardness, formality, or affectation. 

" Affectation is but lighting up a candle to our 
defects, and though it has the laudable aim of 
pleasing, always misses it. :? * We must also avoid 
working upon vanity to secure good manners, lest 
we nurture that love of admiration which is apt, 
but too soon, to take an overbearing possession of 
the heart. 



Order. — The general order of a nursery will 
be greatly promoted by early rising, by regular 
hours for all the employments of the day, and by 
an attention to this maxim, 

* Locke. 



APPENDIX. 275 

"A place for every thing, and every thing in its place." 

Method and true order are attainments of a 
higher stamp than is generally supposed ; for they 
are not only useful in the lesser concerns of life, 
but necessary to success, in the most important 
objects : it is by these that the powers and acti- 
vity of the mind are turned to good account. 
"Method,'"' as Mrs. H. More says, "is the hinge of 
business, and there is no method without order 

and punctuality."- "Method is important as it 

gains time ; it is like packing things in a box ; a 
good packer will get in half as much more than a 
bad one."* 

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 

Religious education has been so ably and satis- 
factorily treated of in several works already before 
the public,t that the author would be unwilling, 
even were she competent, to offer a full or con- 
nected disquisition on the subject. — But as she 
could not entirely omit that which is the founda- 
tion of all good education, she has slightly touch- 
ed upon some points, which from her own experi- 
ence she conceives to be of particular importance. 

* Cecil. 

f Monro's Pious Institution of Youth — Babington's Practical 
View of Christian Education — Doddridge's Sermons on Educa- 
tion ; and the works of Mrs. Trimmer, and Mrs. H. More, on the 
same subject. 



276 APPENDIX. 

" The spirit of true religion is diffusive, and 
therefore they that are actuated by it, as they wish 
the happiness of all, so they labor to set them in 
the right way that leads to it, and more especially 
will they do so, with respect' to those whom the 
Divine Providence has put under their immediate 
direction and conduct, whom the Father of spirits 
hath committed to their care as so many talents, 
which he expects they should improve for his 
service and to his glory. Parents should remem- 
ber that their children are designed to be citizens 
of another world, and therefore that, their 'princi- 
pal study must be how to fit them for the employs 
of that blessed state. The instincts of nature 
prompts parents to do good to their children, but 
religion exalts those instincts, gives them more 
noble tendencies, higher aims, and a diviner bias."* 

It is the deeply-rooted conviction, that in bring- 
ing up a child, we have to do with an immortal 
spirit, — which can alone excite that strength of 
feeling, and depth of interest, essential to the per- 
formance of our highest duties towards him. 
That many well-meaning parents, who take it for 
granted, they are bringing up their families religi- 
giously, manifest so little earnestness in the cause : 
that religion is, in fact, made so secondary an 
object, must, in many cases, be attributed to the 

* See Monro's Pious Institution of Youth— Vol. i. pp. 18, 19, 
and 33. 



APPENDIX. 277 

want of strong- practical faith ; to the want of a 
real and operative belief in the solemn and repeat- 
ed declarations of Scripture, that the present 
world is but a state of probation, and that on the 
short time spent here depends the everlasting con- 
dition of every individual. Amidst the various 
cares, engagements, and pleasures of life, there is 
great danger of neglecting those things which 
though most important are least seen. We are 
called upon to apply ourselves in earnest, and 
" whilst it is called to day," to the religious im- 
provement of our children, as those "whose time 
is short ;" as those who remember that in this case 
there is a double uncertainty, in the lives of their 
children, and in their own ; as those who know 
that the present may be the only opportunity of 
performing the high duties required at their hands. 
But enlightened zeal is ever accompanied by wis- 
dom and prudence — our efforts will many times 
be hidden and unseen, for when outward exertion 
would be ill-timed or injudicious, may not a 
parent promote the best interests of her children 
by that unobserved vigilance, that spirit of the 
heart, which we may confidently believe will not 
fail of its reward ? 

Some parents are deficient in the religious care 

and instruction of their children, from the false 

notion that as it is divine grace alone which can 

change the heart ; so they have little else to do 

24 



278 APPENDIX. 

than to sit still, and leave their children to the 
operation of that grace ; supposing that with it 
all will be well, and that without it, whatever 
they can do, is to little purpose. Others fall into 
the contrary extreme ; and confining their views 
to human efforts, alone often fail by imposing bur- 
thensome restraints, and rendering religious duties 
laborious and wearisome. But there is a happy 
medium between these opposite errors. The 
belief that God is pleased to work by means ; — 
that he has graciously promised to bless the.faith- 
ful use of these means: — that he has declared "as 
we sow, so also we shall reap ;" — that he has 
commanded us " to train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when we is old, he will not depart 
from it f — this belief will stimulate to a diligence, 
a constancy, and a fervency of spirit in the reli- 
gious education of our children. At the same 
time, the sense of our own insufficiency — the con- 
viction, that although we may plant and water, it 
is God alone who can give the increase, will com- 
bine that moderation with our earnestness and 
activity ; that calmness and quietness with our 
zeal ; without which, they will often prove inef- 
fectual, and should lead us to implore the divine 
aid and blessing so graciously promised to those 
who ask. 

It is not to be forgotten, that as religion is the 
most important, so also it is the most sacred of all 



APPENDIX. 279 

Subjects ; and that although, from its importance, 
it is ever to be kept in view ; yet, from its sacred 
character, it must not be made too common or 
familiar. 

It is a very mistaken idea, and not the result of 
experience, that regular and connected teaching 
is unnecessary on religious subjects. We have 
the divine command, "thou shalt teach them dili- 
gently." It is therefore our absolute duty to obey, 
and to enlighten the understandings of our chil- 
dren in religious truth, in proportion as they are 
able to receive it. But we are to enter upon this 
work, not as we would undertake the dry routine 
of a common lesson, but as a business in which 
we peculiarly need that " wisdom which cometh 
from above ;" as a business that has to do with 
the heart more than the head ; in which our chief 
endeavor should be to engage the inclination and 
affection of our pupils ; a business of incalculable 
importance as regarding the most momentous 
interests of those to whom we are bound by the 
tenderest ties. In the study of the Scriptures, it 
is not enough to read them as a letter ; it should 
be our desire to imbibe ourselves, and to infuse by 
sympathy into the hearts of our children, a mea- 
sure of that spirit which breathes throughout 
them. We would not, for example, give them the 
particulars of the life and death of the Lord Jesus, 
merely to be accurately learnt and remembered 



280 APPENDIX. 

as any other subject of historical information ; but 
it ought to be an object so to communicate this 
most interesting of all narratives, as to excite in 
their hearts a love and gratitude towards him, as 
their divine and compassionate Redeemer. 

Although we would not lessen the value of other 
means of instruction, it is evident that the most 
important and purest source of religious know- 
ledge is the simple, unprejudiced study of the 
Bible. If we take the Scriptures in their regular 
order, omitting only those parts which are above 
the comprehension of children, they will supply 
" that which is able to make them wise unto sal- 
vation :" every Christian doctrine, every important 
precept, will be presented in succession, and will 
afford the most favorable opportunity for useful- 
observations and individual application : and these 
will be most likely to prove beneficial when they 
spring naturally from the subject before us, and 
from the lively feeling which it excites. Fenelon 
advises that we should not only tell children that 
the Bible is interesting and delightful, but make 
them feel that it is so. We should endeavor to 
make them feel the deep interest of the narratives 
it contains, and the exquisite beauties with which 
it abounds. This cannot be accomplished if they 
read it as a task ; an historical acquaintance with 
Scripture is, indeed, very desirable ; but it is from 



APPENDIX. 281 

a taste for, and an interest in the sacred writings, 
that the most important benefits are to be derived. 

As children are little capable of receiving ab- 
stract ideas, it is probable that they will not derive 
much benefit from being instructed in doctrines 
separate from facts — by facts we may convey a 
strong and simple view of the most important 
truths of Christianity. If, for example, we can 
represent in lively colors to their imaginations, the 
beautiful history of our Lord calming the storm 
when "the waves beat into the ship," and his voice 
was " mightier than the noise of many waters," 
they will imbibe a stronger and more practical 
sense of his power, than could have been imparted 
to them by any bare statement of it. We shall 
also best be able to impress upon their' minds his 
infinite compassion towards us by reading or relat- 
ing to them, so as to realise the transactions, and 
interest the feelings, such narratives as those of 
our Lord's taking the infants in his arms, and 
blessing them ; of his raising the widow's son, of 
his healing the lunatic child, and lastly, of his 
suffering and dying for our sakes, that we might 
be made the heirs of eternal life. 

It is of great importance that all religious in- 
struction be given to children with reference to 
practice. If they are taught that God is their 
Creator and Preserver, it is that we may obey, 
love, and adore Him ; if, that Christ is their 
24* 



282 APPENDIX. 

Saviour, it is that they may love him, give them- 
selves up to him, and trust in the conditions he 
has prescribed for forgiveness and salvation. If, 
that the Holy Spirit is promised for their direction, 
it is that they should beware of grieving that secret 
guide, which will lead them out of evil, will ena- 
ble them to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, 
and prepare them for a state of blessedness here- 
after. The omnipresence of God should, also, be 
strongly and practically impressed upon the mind 
in early life, not only as a truth peculiarly calcu- 
lated to influence the conduct, but, as a continual 
source of consolation and support in trouble and 
danger. 

It is to be remembered, that religious instruction 
is not to be forced upon children ; wisdom is 
required in communicating it to them, that we 
may give them "food convenient" for them, nour- 
ishing them, not with strong meat, but with " the 
sincere milk of the Word, that they may grow 
thereby ;" making the best use of the natural and 
gradual opening of their understandings : and we 
may acknowledge, with thankfulness, that there 
is something in the human mind which answers 
to the most simple and sacred truths ; the mind of 
man seems formed to receive the idea of Him who 
gave it being. A premature accuracy of religious 
knowledge is not to be desired with children: but 



APPENDIX. 283 

that the views of divine truth which they receive, 
should be sound and scriptural, and so communi- 
cated as to touch the conscience. If the con- 
science be touched, if the fear of God be excited, 
a fear to offend him ; a dread of sin ; there is 
something to work upon, and a foundation is laid 
for advancement in religion, as the character 
ripens. But we are not to forget the general 
balance of Scripture, or to give force to one part 
by overlooking another. Thus, in our endeavors 
to touch the conscience, and to excite a dread of 
sin, we must also be careful to represent our Cre- 
ator as the God of love, the God of peace, the 
Father of mercies, — to direct the attention, of our 
children to that "Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sin of the world ;" that the result of our 
labors may, with the divine blessing, be an union 
of fear and love in the hearts of our pupils : that 
tenderness of conscience should not lead to the 
spirit of bondage ; nor fear degenerate into reli- 
gious terror, and, consequently, superstition. 

The curiosity so natural to children is not to 
be hastily repressed, on religious subjects ; — we 
are rather to direct than reprove it, remembering 
that, within due bounds, the exercise of the natu- 
ral powers may be made subservient to the most 
important ends in acquiring religious knowledge. 
At the same time, any tendency to a critical, cavil- 
ing disposition, is to be uniformly discouraged ; 



284 APPENDIX. 

nor is it of small importance, that children should 
be guarded against the influence of those from 
whom they may imbibe such a habit of mind. As 
their understandings improve, they may be led to 
consider the infinite distance between God and 
man, — that "He is the high and lofty one that 
inhabiteth eternity," whilst man is like "a shadow 
that declineth," or as the grass of the field, which 
" in the morning flourisheth and groweth up, but 
in the evening is cut down and withereth," that 
we see only the smallest part of the works of 
God ; and of that small part much is to us incom- 
prehensible ; — but that great as he is, his love 
extends to the meanest of his creatures, that, for 
man he has provided eternal happiness; and that, 
in the Scriptures, he has been pleased to reveal 
all that is necessary for us to know and believe, 
in order to attain it. 

RELIGIOUS HABITS. 

Beside the religious instruction of children, we 
have also to attend to the formation of religious 
habits. If these be well established in early life, 
even though the heart be not always engaged in 
them as it ought to be, yet something is gained. 
Such habits frequently become the channels 
through which spiritual good is conveyed — be- 
sides, whenever the vital principle of religion 
begins to operate, they render the path of duty 
less difficult. 



APPENDIX. 285 

Amongst the most important religious habits 
may be ranked the daily exercises of devotion ; a 
fixed time and plan for reading the Scriptures ; a 
regular attendance, and serious behaviour, at a 
place of worship ; and a practical regard to the 
Sabbath. 

Devotional Exercises. — In bringing up children 
to regular and stated devotional exercises, it will 
also be necessary to instruct them in the true na- 
ture of prayer ; and this may best be done by ex- 
amples. We may remind them, that the woman of 
Canaan prayed, when, though often rejected, she 
still called upon her Saviour, " Lord help me ;" — 
that the disciples prayed, when, in the midst of the 
tempest, they cried, " Lord save us, we perish f 
{Matt, viii.) — that the publican prayed, when he 
smote upon his breast, saying, " God be merciful 
to me a sinner;" — that the blind man prayed, 
when, notwithstanding many discouragements, he 
still repeated, "- Thou son of David, have mercy 
upon me ;" — and that these are all instances of 
that fervent and humble prayer of the heart, 
which " availeth much."* 

Children may be asked, if they were hungry or 
athirst, distressed or in danger, in what manner 
they would call upon their earthly parents for 
relief and deliverance ; and reminded., that it is 

* See an excellent paper on prayer, printed by Forbes, Brighton, 
Enor 



286 APPENDIX. 

with the like earnestness they should beseech their 
heavenly Father to pardon their sins, to strength- 
en their weakness, " to deliver them from evil," 
and to grant them "his favor, which is better than 
life." Their attention should be directed to the 
powerful and tender affections of their earthly 
parents towards them, that, from this considera- 
tion, they may be the better able to comprehend 
the love of God, as being infinitely greater, more 
tender, and unchangeable. They may be taught, 
that as God heareth the ravens cry, and satisfieth 
the wants of every living thing, much more is he 
ever attentive to the feeblest desire, or the least 
sigh, raised in the hearts of his children towards 
him: that it is the prayer of the heart alone which 
is acceptable in his sight, although a form of 
sound words is valuable, as an assistance in 
raising the affections and confining the wander- 
ing thoughts. 

But children are too often suffered to repeat 
their prayers with as little reflection, and almost 
as little reverence, as they manifest in the common 
engagements of the day. We should endeavor 
to bring them into a serious and tranquil state of 
mind before they kneel down. They may then 
be reminded of their faults with good effect ; and 
thus gradually accustomed to unite self examina- 
tion with the duties of devotion ; examination, 
not only of their outward conduct, but of their 



APPENDIX. 287 

motives ; a habit essential to real religious 
advancement ! 

The morning and evening afford the best op- 
portunities for devotional exercises : and it should 
be our earnest desire to accustom our children to 
begin and close the day with Him in whom they 
" live, and move, and have their being ;" to accus- 
tom them " to seek first the kingdom of God ;" to 
make it their first business, on waking, to give 
thanks for the mercies which are "new every 
morning," and to seek for daily strength, support, 
and protection : that, thus, when they arise, " they 
may still be with him." 

In the evening, when they have prayed for par- 
don and peace, let us endeavor to infuse the spirit 
of that beautiful expression in the Psalms, "I will 
both lay me down in peace and sleep, for it is 
thou, Lord, only, makest me dwell in safety." At 
no time is the influence of a mother more valuable 
than when her children are retiring to rest. It is 
then, that having ceased from the business and the 
pleasures of the day, their minds are quieted, their 
feelings more tender, and more fitted for the recep- 
tion of religious impressions. Happy is it if the 
spirit of her own heart be such as to enable her 
to make full use of these favored moments ; to 
make use of them as valuable opportunities for 
withdrawing the hearts of her children " from 
things which are temporal," and of fixing deeper 



288 APPENDIX. 

and more lively impressions of those " which are 
eternal." In the absence of a mother, on these 
occasions, it is the duty of an assistant, as far as 
possible, to supply her place, 

The prayers of children should be simple, and 
suitable to their understandings and state of mind j 
we must not, however, expect that they will al- 
ways enter into them with the feeling we may de- 
sire. Yet, as we are to persevere, through all dis- 
couragements, in the performance of this sacred 
duty ourselves, must we not also train up our chil- 
dren to it, notwithstanding their great infirmities, 
in simple obedience to the express commands of 
God ; in humble reliance on his blessed promises ; 
and with full confidence in Him who is not an 
" high priest, that cannot be touched with the reel- 
ing of our infirmities, but who ever liveth to make 
intercession for us V and might we not hope, that 
the prayers of our children would be less defect- 
ive, were the spirits of those about them more 
serious and more devotional ? 

Grace before meat. Children should be 

taught to receive their daily bread as from the 
hand of God, and that excellent custom of grace 
before and after meat, ought, surely, to be kept up 
in the nursery, as an open acknowledgment of 
gratitude to the Giver of all good. 

Daily study of the Scriptures .-^-It will be of 
advantage if the daily portion of scriptural in- 



APPENDIX. 289 

struction can be given to children as the first 
employment, after their morning prayers ; and it 
is much to be desired that parents should retain 
this part of education in their own hands ; for the 
situation of a parent gives advantages for the per- 
formance of this duty, which are rarely possessed, 
in an equal degree, by a tutor or governess. Per- 
haps, the earliest scriptural lessons are best given 
in conversation, assisted by prints.* By this sim- 
ple method, even very young children, before they 
can read, are capable of understanding, and of 
profiting by, many parts of sacred history. A re- 
ference to Wallis's map of Canaan, with little 
figures, and, when children are old enough, to 
Burder's Oriental Customs, or Calmet's Dictionr 
ary,t will add to the interest of the historical parts 
of the Bible, and will contribute to render the 
Scripture lesson amusing as well as instructive. 
The Sabbath. — As the common business of life 

* It is related in the life of Dr. Doddridge, prefixed to his 
Works, that " his parents brought him up in the early knowledge 
of religion. Before he could read, his mother taught him the his 
tory of the Old and New Testament, by the assistance of some 
Dutch tiles in the chimney of the room where they usually sat ; 
and accompanied her instructions with such wise and pious reflec- 
tions, as made strong and lasting impressions upon his heart." 

| Alexander's, or Malcom's Dictionary is better adapted to the 
use of children, besides that Calmet will be accessible to but few. 
Ingraham's map of Palestine should also be used in lieu of the 
one named above. — Pub. 

25 



290 APPENDIX. 

is to be laid aside on the Sabbath, so the engage- 
ments of this day should be wholly of a different 
character from those of the week ; and if a prac- 
tical regard to the Sabbath be early established, 
and its employments, which may so easily be done, 
are. rendered attractive and interesting, children 
will enter upon them from choice, and neither ex- 
pect, nor wish for any others. 

The study of the* Scriptures may be agreeably 
diversified, either by looking out, with the assist- 
ance of marginal references and a concordance, 
the various texts on one particular subject, as, on 
prayer — almsgiving — duty to parents, &c. ; or by 
tracing the chain of prophecy relating to the Mes- 
siah, with corresponding passages in the New 
Testament ; by studying the types which beauti- 
fully illustrate his character and offices — as the 
paschal lamb — the brazen serpent — the scape goat, 
&c, or by reading, with a particular reference 
to the lives and characters of eminent individuals 
— as of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, &c. 
Nor is it necessary that children be confined, on 
the Sunday, to studying the Scriptures, Cate- 
chisms, &c. ; — there are many books suitable to 
the day, which will afford an agreeable and use- 
ful variety, and which, if laid aside in the week, 
will be read with the greater pleasure. Hymns, 
or a portion of Scripture,* may also be committed 

* See Mr. Babington's excellent remarks on this subject : Prac- 
tical Essay, nao-e 94- &c. 



APPENDIX. 291 

to memory ; but care will be required that these 
be neither learnt as a common task, nor repeated 
in a hasty or irreverent manner. They may, be- 
sides, be formed into a class, and questioned, on 
the Sabbath, in their Scriptural knowledge ; and it 
will add to the interest, if the children of more 
than one family can be united in this exercise, in 
a Sabbath school. 

When old enough, they may be permitted to 
share in the labors of a Sabbath school, or make 
choice of some child as a private scholar. Such 
objects are valuable, as affording suitable occupa- 
tion for the Sabbath ; but still more so, as having 
the tendency to foster a spirit of active benevo- 
lence ; and a disposition to promote the interests 
of others. 

The engagements to which we have referred, 
with an attendance on public worship, and neces- 
sary recreation and exercise, will fill up the Sab- 
bath usefully and agreeably. If we enter into 
the full meaning of these expressions — "shall 
call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, 
honorable,"* we shall be persuaded, that it is not 
sufficient to enforce a strict regard to the Sabbath 
as a law; but that we should also endeavor to 
infuse a love for the day, as one of peculiar privi- 
leges ; and parents may promote this feeling, by 

* Isaiah, lviii. 13. 



292 APPENDIX. 

keeping in view that it is to be a time of rest, as 
of religious duty, by devoting themselves more 
than ordinarily to their children ; and by render- 
ing the Sabbath the season for the best kind of 
domestic enjoyment. 

Public Worship. — Silence, self-subjection, and 
a serious deportment, both in* family and public 
worship, ought to be strictly enforced in early life ; 
and it is better that children should not attend, till 
they are capable of behaving in a proper manner. 
But a practical respect for the Sabbath, and for the 
the services of religion, is but an effect of that re- 
verence for every thing sacred, which, it is of 
primary importance early to establish, as a habit 
of mind. No subject connected with religion 
ought to be treated lightly in the presence of chil- 
dren. 

Firmness, and, sometimes, resolution and au- 
thority, may be required in the first establishment 
of religious habits ; and, as far as it is necessary, 
they should be exercised; but never in such a 

* It may not be irrelevant to the subject before us to observe, 
not only the value of family worship for the sake of our children, 
but also the importance of conducting it so as to render it to them 
a profitable and attractive service. "Let them find it short, sa- 
vory, simple, plain, tender, heavenly. Worship thus conducted 
is an engine of vast power in a family. Family religion is of un- 
speakable importance ; the spirit and tone of your house, the bye 
conversations in your family, will have great influence on your 
children." — Cecil's Remains, 



APPENDIX. 293 

manner as to render the most sacred duties a gall- 
ing and burthen some yoke. An excess of strict- 
ness is injurious in the general management of 
children ; but is especially to be avoided in their 
religious education. If, in that, we draw the line 
too tight, we may not only excite a distaste for 
what is good; but induce concealment and 
hypocrisy. In religion, more than in any other 
object, it is of the first importance to gain over 
the affections ; to draw the hearts of our chil- 
dren by the cords of love ; that they may know, and 
feel for themselvs, that "her ways are ways of 
pleasantness ;" and that " all her paths are 
peace;" — 

" Nor know we any thing so fair, 
As is the smile upon her face."* 

Care must be taken not to press too closely upon 
children such non-essential points as form the dis- 
tinguishing peculiarities of the various sects of 
Christians. We are more likely to prepare our 
children for the reception of truth, if secondary 
distinctions are not brought into prominent view, 
and if our efforts are directed to the great object 
of leading them to that knowledge of God, and of 
his son Jesus Christ, which alone is life eternal.t 

If children live under a religious influence, some 

* Wordsworth's Ode to Duty, 
t John xvii. 3. 

25* 



294 APPENDIX. 

vigilance will be required, lest they should assume 
a seriousness which is not real. Every thing 
unnatural, every thing bordering on hypocrisy, is 
to be most carefully checked ; and that divine test 
deeply impressed on their hearts, as on our own ; 
"if ye love me, keep my commandments." We 
must not, therefore, furco cither the feelings or 
expression ; satisfied that, if the true principles of 
Christianity have taken possession of the heart, it 
will, necessarily, manifest itself in something better 
than in words or profession. 

Children must, besides, be guarded against 
placing too much dependence upon external ob- 
servances. We are to bring them up with a 
reverence and a value for the ordinances of reli- 
gion; and to accustom them to a diligent and 
persevering attendance upon them, as a sacred 
and important duty, to which secondary objects 
ought always to yield. But, at the same time, they 
will be able to understand that these ordinances, 
of themselves, are wholly insufficient ; that he is 
a Christian " who is one inwardly;" and that our 
real character is determined, not by that which we 
may appear before men, but by that which we are 
in his sight, who "looketh on the heart." 



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